AN: Hi! Thank you so much for all the reviews! You guys rock! So here's chapter 2! Hope you enjoy!

Warning: This chapter contains strong language. Just so you know! :)

Dean

He couldn't believe it.

All these years, and he'd thought he'd never see Bella again. He'd never smell the strawberries and freesia of her shampoo, never behold the light shining off of her hair, never hear her beautiful, musical laugh that rang in his ears like a waterfall in springtime.

And here she was, standing in front of him, the light from the open door illuminating her from behind, making her look like some kind of goddess who had the power to crush his soul in her grasp.

"Well, ain't that something," the cop chortled in response to Dean's pronouncement. "Bella, you never told me you knew these fine young agents."

"I was trying to forget them," Bella whispered, her soft chocolate orbs meeting Dean's sea-green ones. Something sparked and twisted inside him, and he knew it was the pain of how he'd abandoned Bella all that time ago, how he'd saved her life in a dark alley in Phoenix, and then vanished, nothing more than a sultry wiff of aftershave and leather, and the fading echoes of a rumbling engine that growled like a wild beast in the dark gloom of the night.

"What are you doing here?" she interjected, her eyes flashing like summer lightning, fearsome, electric, and angry.

"Well, there's the thing darling," Charlie drawled. "They're lookin' into those darn funky deaths we've been having." He turned to look at the studly brothers. "What'd you say? That we're dealin' with some kind of serial killer?"

"That's right sir," Dean said smoothly, though his eyes never left Bella's. "I'm sure we'll catch it—him—in no time. Hey," he said softer, his voice dropping into a murmuring rush like the October wind rustling long grass along the seaside, "do you want to get a coffee sometime?"

Bella blushed like a rose in bloom, the first tint of spring painting her perfectly round cheeks.

"Yeah," she sighed.

Dean heard Sam snort, but ignored him. Just because his brother had no romance in his life didn't mean that Dean couldn't. Then Dean froze, his thoughts grinding to a halt as his breath caught in his throat. Romance. All those things that he never did, cuddling, dates, coffee, for one second he had pictured doing all those things with Bella. The instant he admitted the thought, he knew it was true. With Bella, he was willing to give all those things a try. He was staggered by the thought.

Dean couldn't focus on the case after that. Finally, Sam dragged him out to the car, whirling to face him with his gigantic height.

"What the hell are you doing, Dean?" he demanded. "We're on a case here, and all you could look at was some jailbait girl."

Dean bristled like a drunken porcupine, his hackles rising as his brother's sharp words hit home. "This isn't some—fling," he shot back. "I care for Bella."

"Because you've known her for all of 30 minutes."

Dean stared dumbly at his brother, realizing that Sam just didn't understand. "You don't understand," he told him. "We have a…connection. There's something there that I just can't deny, that I can't break even if I wanted too. Bella and I are bound together, Sam, by destiny, and I can't deny it."

"Bullshit," Sam ejaculates.

He's so angry, Dean realized sadly. He's so messed up from Ruby that he's forgotten that real love exists, and he can't bring himself to admit it's something I can have. "I'm sorry you feel that way," he said aloud. "But this is something real, and it's going to happen."

Sam snarled quietly, teeth bared like some kind of swamp-dwelling prehistoric reptile. "Whatever, man," he hissed. "Go get your coffee. I'm going to go see if Cas has any news."

He stalked off into the gloom, leaving Dean with his heart in his cowboy boots, as well as a lot of water; he'd been standing in a puddle. Then he remembered that Bella was still inside the police station, waiting for him to take her out for coffee. His beautiful Bella, with whom, for the first time, Dean felt hope.

He turned and squelched back into the police station, feeling his heart lighten with every step, like it was going to sprout wings and fly up into the sky like a small, happy, bird.

He had some things he needed to tell Bella.

AN2: So, what do you think? Please R&R! :)