Despite my nerves, breakfast was surprisingly pleasant. I am certain in hindsight that Kirsti and Sam were in cahoots. They sat across the table from Dean and me, forcing us in to close quarters. We shared funny moments from our different hunts (They were shockingly frequent) and Kirsti was nearly crying with laughter.

"So-" She panted for a moment, catching her breath. "There are books about the two of you?"

Dean looked at Sam with flat eyes. He was not happy with the turn in conversation. I held my side to ease the ache as I giggled along. "That means you have fan girls!" I could barely get the words out before Kirsti and I shrieked in laughter. Sam looked at Dean and shrugged. Dean's jaw tightened, and it made me laugh harder, bracing myself against the table.

"Yeah, we have a lot of fans." Dean's eyes locked on Sam's, and he smirked. "Don't we Sammy? Remember Becky?"

We were still giggling as we faced Sam. His skin blanched, his eyes doubling in size as they widened. His mouth worked, but he stuttered, unable to force out any words.

"Thought we were sharing stories, Sammy." Dean grinned.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

It was the best breakfast I could remember in a long time.

The boys and I headed back to the cabin after breakfast. I smiled as they bantered back and forth. They had been through a lot, but there they were, still, well, them. I envied their strength.

None of us really brought up exactly what would happen next, unless you counted Sam and I's chat earlier in the day. It was Minnesota warm (That means still chilly, BTW) and I had hoped to put off the inevitable for a day or two longer while I enjoyed the spring weather. I learned quickly that afternoon that down time was just not a thing with the Winchesters. Sam immediately hit up the resorts free wifi on his lap top and Dean started setting out weapons for cleaning the minute we got back to the cabin. I felt a little out of place in the well oiled Winchester machine. I glanced towards Dean. When his eyes fell on my face, they tightened.

"You should see the other guy." I smiled sheepishly. Dean's lips quirked up a bit before he returned to his work.

I exhaled in a gust, stretching my aching muscles. I sighed in relief as I felt some of my tension work away. My ribs would trouble me for at least a few weeks, and my hip and a huge knot in it that would need some TLC, but otherwise, I already felt on the mend. I blushed as I felt my breasts press against my top. I caught Dean looking at me from the corner of my eye, and my blush deepened from his scrutiny.

"You should hit up that Jacuzzi." When I turned to Dean, his attention was firmly back on the gun he was cleaning.

"I'd love to… but I'm sure there is something I can do-"

Dean cut me off. "You did your share yesterday." When his eyes came up, his focus snapped to the bruises on my neck. I took a deep breath, preparing for a fight.

"We all did what we had to, Dean."

His eyes flashed, and my stomach flipped over on itself. My ribs protested the quick breaths that puffed out of my lungs under that gaze. Every part of me wanted to look away, but I held my ground. Slowly, deliberately, Dean set down the gun he was cleaning. "You got hurt because I made a selfish choice."

My gaze met Sam's as he looked up from the computer. His face had I told you so written all over it.

"Dean, I'm fine. I'm great, even. My ribs hurt more from laughing at Sam at breakfast than they do from last night." Dean's eyes rose skyward as if he were prettying for resolve. Maybe he was.

"We almost got you killed yesterday. In one case with us, you've earned stitches, a dislocated shoulder, bruised ribs, and a limp you're doing your damndest to hide. I'm a selfish ass hat. I swear to whoever is in charge upstairs right now that I will PUT you in that tub if you don't go on your own." The coldness of guilt was replaced with the fire of Dean's anger. He was so mad at himself that someone he'd decided to protect had gotten hurt on his watch, that I felt my own guilt blooming from making HIM hurt. I nearly laughed out loud. Dean was clearly bemused by my reaction, and the confusion on his furrowed brow pushed me over the edge. I sagged on to the fold out, bruised rib be damned. My eyes were tearing up as I held my sides, laughing until I ran out of breath. Sam and Dean both looked ready to throw me an impromptu exorcism by the time I finally calmed down.

"Sorry." I hiccupped a bit, and nearly fell into a giggling fit as the boys shared a look in their silent language that I believe meant 'what the hell.' Sam looked completely bewildered, and dean looked a wee bit butt hurt. You'd almost think I burst out laughing while he was having a chick flick moment.

I snapped my mouth shut and took a deep breath in through my nose, exhaling through my mouth in a long, slow, and drawn out breath. My grin wouldn't go away, but I gave myself firm instructions not to giggle snort as I began to explain. "Dean… We should probably stop the guilt off now before we drive poor Sam nuts. You feel bad I got injured. Okay. Well, I feel bad that you feel bad. Then you feel worse that I feel bad. So I feel horrible, which makes me irritable, and we are all just a little more unhappy than we were a few minutes ago. It's sort of stupid. And exhausting. We should stop." I made it through my entire shpeel without a single giggle, snort, or giggle snort hybrid. For once, myself had listened to… um… myself.

Dean was not amused. (I have that affect on him.) He also was not convinced. His footsteps were firm and purposeful as he approached. His brows had arched up, and the incredulity had creased the skin of his forehead. I found the angry set of his jaw distracting. Part of me felt bad. Another part of me wanted to trail kisses along his jaw until it stopped looking so tense and he carried me into my room to pick up where we left off last night. The final part of me, once so strong, but waning now, still wanted to run from Dean, my feelings, and all the risks and possibilities they posed. Frankly, I felt slightly schizophrenic. I didn't like it. I allowed my psyche its civil war as I stared Dean down. There was no doubt that we were in for an interesting day, for good or ill.

"This is serious." His voice was dark and quiet, a storm barely restrained. "Your life is serious. You can't laugh something like this off. Your life was in danger. I put your life in danger."

I suppressed a sigh. "But it IS my life, Dean. I understand danger. I know something bad could have gone down yesterday. But it didn't. I'm banged up, so what? We did the do. Ass was kicked, names were taken, and we are all here today."

The war inside me raged, despite the smile I showed Dean. I heard the cabin door shut. Sam had given up on finding a case in the same room as our lifetime movie moment. He took Ninja with him, leaving us to our interpersonal drama. Somehow, I was standing, closing the distance between Dean and I. "I could have insisted we find another spell, Dean." I bit my lip, making up my mind in the moment. "I didn't want to." I felt my skin burn from the admission, and I plowed forward before I had time to second guess myself. "You may have missed this, but I had a say in whether that little part of the plan happened, and I chose to do it. I chose to do all of it, even if we didn't know for sure what would happen. It was my plan, and if something went wrong, it would have been on me, Dean. Not you." We were close enough that I had to crane my stiff neck to make eye contact.

"Yeah… well… It didn't." I could see Dean desperately stretching for an argument.

"My point exactly." If it weren't for the bruises, my smile would have rivaled Kirsti's for radiance. At least, that's how I felt with Dean looking at me, anger slowly chilling as he moved slightly closer. His eyes still looked strained as he brushed his fingers across my neck, tracing the marks there. I saw his focus stray from me as a whole to my injuries. I refused to let him feel bad for me, or think of me as someone he was responsible for. It was too much pressure for both of us.

I did my best to keep my smile strong as I reached for his hand, wrapping both of mine around it. I had no idea where I was going with this, but I wasn't going to stop until Dean was distracted from thoughts of what could have been.

"Here's what's going to happen now, Dean." My voice was breath as Dean's stare slid up my neck, lingering on my lips before reaching my eyes. His smoldered. Distraction achieved. He had moved so close that I felt his breath and my own shallow breaths became more rapid. "I'm going to do as I'm told, and take a nice long soak in the Jacuzzi tub. When I'm done, you are going to rub my shoulders. They kill." I was on my tip toes now, our lips almost touching. As his eyes started to close and an arm looped around me, I noticed that the war I'd been fighting against myself had halted, leaving me oddly calm. I slipped my arms around Dean's neck, kissing his warm lips softly. It was pretty clear which side had won.