CHAPTER EIGHT

Wednesday Evening
Diner, Highway 77 South

He didn't know what he'd said. Which was a lie. Of course he knew what he'd said, and he knew he shouldn't have said it. But it was too late now. Dean shook his head, watching Casey storm toward the ladies room. He knew he should probably follow her.

Coward, he gritted his teeth and pushed back his chair loudly.

Well, if she didn't want to have a conversation like normal adults…. he turned in the opposite direction from his problem and headed for the front door; leaving Sam sitting there with that stunned silent expression on his face staring at a deserted table.

It had been a long drive. And given that he'd been the only one awake for most of it, Dean knew he was short-tempered from lack of sleep and a continued hangover. To say nothing of the lack of tunes along the way; necessary because at any given time one or all of his passengers were sound asleep. Besides that, he and Casey hadn't had any chance to deal with anything yet since they'd headed out on the road so quickly. When his tension and hangover had left him with a serious lack of patience and tact, it had resulted in him ticking Casey off without even half trying.

Clenching his fists, Dean walked toward the Impala. Reaching the car, he rested his hands against the roof and lowered his aching head. Wishing he could take back the past week was not going to solve anything. Didn't matter that they had a job they were trying to get to, they were finding a motel and he and Casey were going to have a talk. He couldn't go on like this. They couldn't go on like this. Taking a deep breath, he straightened up and stared out across the road. Traffic was sparse and it wasn't surprising given they'd pulled off at the backside of nowhere.

Dean ran a hand over his face and heard a twig snap somewhere to his left. Looking up, he saw Bennett standing under a scrappy tree at the corner of the lot. Frowning, he studied her. She looked a little better than she had for the past few weeks. She'd left the table before he'd been an idiot and upset Casey. Assuming she'd come out to smoke, Dean was surprised to see her just standing there staring into the distance. She was flipping her Zippo with a practiced ease that had taken him a few salt and burns to get just right as a kid. Watching her, he realized she knew a few tricks he didn't even know.

She brushed her hair out of her face and smiled when he walked over. He leaned against the tree, folded his arms and asked, "Not smoking?"

"I hate it." Bennett shook her head, smile fading as she glanced at the pack of cigarettes in her hand.

Reaching out a hand, Dean easily pulled the pack of cigarettes from her fingers. Sliding the pack into his pocket, he exchanged it for a pack of bubble gum. His life had certainly taken a turn for the surreal if he was starting to feel comfortable carrying gum around with him everywhere. Bennett could be counted on to always have cigarettes and a Zippo on her, but they were discovering she had a habit of losing the gum in favor of a cigarette if no one was paying attention. Hence the fact that bubblegum was now crowding up every nook of his life.

Bennett stared at the pack of gum for a long time before finally taking it. Watching her open it with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, Dean had a feeling he knew what was really behind her bad habit. Smoking was the only thing she'd ever felt any control over in her life. It had been a way to rebel against her monster of a father and had since become her coping mechanism for anything life threw at her.

And it needed to stop.

Sam's words from the other day suddenly came back to him "I don't want her to feel like she's trapped. I want her to be able to make her own decisions for once and choose her own life. I don't want her to feel like she has to stay with us if she doesn't want to." As she popped an obnoxiously loud bubble and continued to flip her Zippo, Dean decided they needed to start making a conscious effort to give her a little control.

"What do you want for breakfast in the morning?" Dean asked. Step one.

"Um...waffles?" Bennett asked with a frown. "Why? What do you want?"

"Doesn't matter. Your choice tomorrow."

She brightened immediately, "Waffles."

Dean nodded and said, "Sounds good to me." Before he could say anything more, she gasped and jumped backwards, eyes wide. Dean spun around, looking for whatever had startled her and found himself face to face with Crowley. "What the?"

"Hello there, Dean." Crowley said, immediately pushing past him to stalk toward Bennett. "I need a moment with Miss Prentiss."

"Don't call her that." Dean said before Bennett had the chance. He grabbed Crowley's arm and halted him before he could take another step closer to Bennett. Dean said, "It's ok, Bennett. I'll deal with this."

Crowley wrenched his arm free and glared at Dean. He pointed at Bennett and said, "You better deal with that or I will."

Stepping in front of Bennett, Dean frowned and asked, "Are you threatening her? In front of me? You think that's a good idea…"

"She's killing my employees!" Crowley shouted, eyes wild. "After asking for my help, after I said I'd look into her little condition, she starts killing my staff!"

Dean tried not to laugh. He stepped back and glanced at Bennett who looked less

pale and more bratty. She had a smirk on her face and Dean couldn't help but be amused at how Crowley brought out the best in her. Dean folded his arms and said to Crowley, "What do you want me to say? Sorry? Man, you're a demon. In case you haven't noticed, we are fundamentally at cross purposes."

"So you're just going to let…."

"Let her kill demons? Yeah. Pretty sure I'm going to." Dean grinned. "You want to keep your payroll, add a session on stay the heck away from Bennett and the Winchesters to your new employee orientation."

Crowley sucked in a furious breath, visibly fighting to regain control over the situation. He seethed for a moment, then said through gritted teeth, "We could work something out...restore a natural balance…"

"The natural balance is me putting a blade through your throat." Dean growled, stepping closer. "I don't care that you have some kind of a relationship with Casey. I'm pretty sure she won't miss you that much if I take you out. Probably even put the blade through your throat herself when she finds out you threatened Bennett."

Adjusting his coat, clearly realizing he wasn't going to win any arguments, Crowley stepped back. He said, "Very well. You win. I'll keep my staff away."

"Stay away yourself too, Crowley." Dean said, "You come near her again, I will end you. Unless she does it first. Because she can."

"Cheerio." Crowley said, with a sneer.

As soon as he disappeared, Dean turned to Bennett, "You ok?"

She gave him a snappy thumbs up.

He asked, "He said you've been killing his employees. The ones at the mall weren't working for him."

Bennett shook her head, her smirk fading.

"So you've been shredding other demons?" Dean's eyebrows rose as he studied her. "When? How many?"

"A few. Here and there." Bennett shrugged. "I can hear them, now, remember? Sense their presence, sure, but now I can hear their thoughts as they hurt...kill people." She looked up at him with sudden tears in her eyes, "What am I supposed to do? Ignore them? Let them kill people?"
Dean's shock at this recent turn of events faded and he shook his head, "No. But this isn't all on you, either. Why didn't you say something?"

"Everyone's been busy. And I took care of it." Bennett said, trying to smile, "It wasn't a big deal. It doesn't hurt at all anymore. I think once I accepted that this is my life now, it's just gotten easier to do."

Well, if this isn't just great...Dean shook his head. While there was a part of him that really didn't care if she was taking demons out in her free time, he also knew the toll it was taking on her. Besides that, he was concerned that her actions now had Crowley threatening her. He said, "Look, not gonna lie, I'm glad you can gank a demon from a block away. Or however far away you can do it from. But you need to be careful. Crowley's a dirtbag. And you've got him running scared."

"I know."

As proud as he was that she was smug and smiling about it, Dean knew they had to be careful. He said, "You've got a power even he doesn't understand; a power that no one's seen in years. Not since I killed Azazel. And you've got it now and can kill demons with your mind. You're a threat to him. So from now on, tell us when you sense or hear a demon, ok?"

Bennett nodded and Dean was about to say something else when he caught sight of a commotion by the diner entrance. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a guy with his hands on Casey. Sam was already looming over the guy as Dean started to head that way. He called over his shoulder, "Bennett, stay there."

Casey hated cheap restrooms that didn't have paper towels. You couldn't exactly dry your tears under the energy efficient, hurricane strength hand blowers. And why exactly does Dumpy Diner in Nowheresville USA even have energy efficient, hurricane strength hand blowers? She shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

Again.

Sighing, she stared at the mirror. At least she had kept her tears to a minimum so she didn't look like a ghoul. A quick touch up on the mascara and she'd be good to go. Fumbling through her bag, Casey wished she could hold her emotions in check a little better. What's happening to me? She never used to be so emotional. But ever since…

Purgatory.

Dean.

Life.

"Stop it, Casey." She muttered, trying to focus on her makeup.

Needed to focus on something other than purgatory, Dean, and life. And why exactly was any of that making her so upset, anyway? Just needed to take things one at a time. Needed to remember this was just as new to Dean as it was to her.

Casey rubbed a smudge out of the corner of her eye and said aloud, "Who would have thought the real world would be more of a challenge to our relationship than purgatory was?"

It figured though. They were both hunters. Hunters raised by hunters. Maybe purgatory had been the only place their relationship could work. Shaking her head and shoving the mascara back in her bag, Casey pursed her lips. Wouldn't believe that. Wouldn't allow that. Because, no matter what, she loved Dean Winchester. Even if he was an overbearing, annoying, chauvinistic…

"Casey." She shook her head, interrupting her own tirade and glaring at herself in the mirror. "He wants to protect you. That's not a bad thing. Talking to yourself, though…" She snorted, running a hand through her hair. "That's gonna be a problem."

Feeling less like she wanted to wring Dean's neck and more like she wanted to just sit down and have a one on one conversation with him, she walked out of the bathroom, ready to face whatever he was going to throw at her. Casey immediately noticed the table they had occupied was now completely empty. Bennett had run out even before she and Dean had had their tiff. Casey frowned. I probably should go check on her. She was heading towards the door when she caught sight of Sam at the register. She rolled her eyes, completely unsurprised that Dean would just leave his brother with the check. Typical, she thought to herself, irritation sparking despite her attempts to put out that fire.

Torn between worrying about where Bennett had gotten to and renewed frustration with Dean, Casey was only two steps out of the door when she looked up and saw a face that made her blood run cold and her gut do backflips. Not a good thing after a burger and milkshake. He was there, just to her left, climbing out of a beat up Ford Taurus.

"Casey?" His voice was as unpleasant as his expression. He looked like he'd lived a hard life since the last time she'd seen him. Not surprising. Walking toward her, he said, "Well if it isn't the thieving slut herself."

"Just leave me alone, Jake." Casey said, her heart racing as memories she'd tried so hard to bury came jumping out at her. This can't be happening! How? What are the chances of running into him after all these years?

She tried to walk past the man who had almost ruined her life, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around, shoving her back against the wall. She cringed back against the brick, all those horrible memories she'd tried to forget coming screaming back into her head as she stared into those anger filled eyes she once had thought she loved.

"Oh no you don't," Jake snapped, eyes more full of hate than Casey had ever seen them before. Apparently the years hadn't improved his mood or his manners. He leaned forward and shouted, "I'm not going anywhere until you give me back my car."

"You will never see my car again," she spat back, even though her entire body was shaking. This was ridiculous. She was a huntress. A Nephilim for crying out loud! She'd killed vampires, Wendigos and destroyed the Black Plague. Casey was stronger and better than this. Shouldn't be, didn't need to be afraid anymore, but then Jake squeezed the arm he was holding, causing Casey to wince and she cried out, "You're hurting me!"

"I'm gonna do a lot more than that if you don't tell me where the car is," Jake raised his hand to strike.

All of the fighting instincts that Casey had developed left her mind and body in a heartbeat. She melted back against the wall, closed her eyes and turned her face to absorb the blow that was coming. But the blow never came.

"Hey!"

Casey opened her eyes to see Sam walking out of the diner and towards her and Jake. His eyes were dark with fury as he walked straight to her side. He easily towered over Jake. Casey almost cried in relief.

Sam's voice was low and dangerous as he asked, "There a problem here?"

"No problem here." Jake replied, his eyes never leaving Casey's.

"I wasn't asking you." Sam said, "Casey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sam, just go wait by the car," she pleaded.

"Listen to the lady," Jake said, turning his hateful gaze toward Sam.

"I don't think so," Sam said. He took a step closer to Casey, looming on Jake's right side. "Get your hand off of her. Now."

"You the poor sap she's playing with this week?" Jake scoffed, his hand still squeezing her arm painfully.

"No. That would be me."

Casey felt her eyes tear up at that familiar deep voice. Dean had come up and now stood on Jake's left side. Very closely.

He said, "How about you take your hands off my girlfriend before I rip your lungs out."

"Why don't you just back off and mind your own business?" Jake finally let go of Casey and turned to face Dean.

"She is my business." Dean said, gently touching Casey's arm, but keeping his eyes on Jake. He said, "Sam, take Casey to the car." He waited until his brother lead Casey away then grabbed Jake by the throat and pushed him up against the wall of the diner with a practiced ease that completely caught the man from Casey's past by surprise. Dean enjoyed the look of fear that erased the cockiness from Jake's face.

He said, "So you're the ex who couldn't keep his fists to himself? Gotta say, you aren't much to look at. And you won't even make that much of a mess if I shove your skull through this wall."

"You…" Jake sputtered, barely able to speak. Dean just nodded and smiled dangerously, one eyebrow cocked. Jake's hands came up around Dean's wrist as he coughed and struggled. He said hoarsely, "Let me go!"

"Oh, I will. I just want to have a quick chat. I don't know you, don't want to. Don't like you and would really prefer just to put a bullet between your eyes. But I'm not gonna do that, Jake." Dean said, "Ask me why."

"Why?" Jake gasped.

"Because I don't want to put you out of your misery." Dean lowered his voice and said, "I want you to be miserable every day. Every day I want you to think about the fact that I'm out here, in the same world as you, and I'll never forget you. I want you to think about the fact that you've made an enemy who will find you and kill you if you even look at Casey again. Understand?"

Jake nodded, his eyes wide with fear and hatred. Mostly fear, Dean thought with no small sense of satisfaction. Dean released his grip, brushed imaginary lint off of Jake's shoulders, grinned and walked back towards the Impala. He wished he could have beat Jake to a pulp, but under the circumstances, he knew it wasn't the right thing to do. He needed to be with Casey.

Dean saw Sam standing by the passenger side door, an arm around Casey's shoulders. Sam was saying something softly to Casey and she was nodding, head against his chest. Just behind her, Bennett was rubbing her shoulders in a comforting way, but the expression on her face as she stared at Jake was murderous. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the cigarette away from her earlier.

Sam and Casey looked up at him a she approached, although Bennett just continued to sear Jake with a glare that Dean knew would have shredded the jerk if he'd been a demon and not a human. Casey looked a bit teary, but met his eyes and he could see the determination and strength behind the pain. She took a step toward him, her own eyes briefly looking beyond him to where he figured Jake was still cowering.

He gently tilted her chin up and asked, "Hey, you ok?"

"Not really."

Dean vaguely noticed Sam and Bennett stepping back as Casey's head came to rest against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered, "Don't let him do this to you, baby. You are so strong; he can't take that from you. Not anymore."

Casey's head came up and she brushed away the last of her tears. She smiled shakily and said, "You're right. Can you wait here? There's something I need to do before we go."

"I'm right here if you need me." Dean said, knowing she needed to get past Jake for once and for all. He tucked her hair behind her ears and nodded at her with an encouraging grin as she straightened her shoulders and walked back toward the diner.

"Hey, Jake." Casey called out, heart thudding in her chest.

She'd felt much more sure of herself with Dean's arms around her, but once Jake glanced up at her with those cruel eyes, she lost the last bit of nervousness. She'd waited years for closure, not even realizing exactly how much pain he'd caused her until right this moment. Now it was time to put him to rest forever and move on with her life.

He took a step closer and she said, "I've got something for you."

"Finally." Jake said, shaking his head, irritation coming off him in waves despite the fact he'd just been dressed down by Dean. He stepped forward, using his height to try to intimidate her, and said, "Where are the keys?"

"These?" Casey grinned, waving the Mustang's keys in front of his nose. She snatched them back with a smirk and said, "No, these are mine. But this," Casey punched him in the face, "is for you."

Jake reeled back slightly, gasping, eyes blazing. Before he could speak or make a move, she reached up, grabbed the back of his neck and brought his face down into her knee with a painful thunk. He collapsed to the ground holding his face as she stood over him and said, "And that was for me."

Casey took a deep breath, leaned down and looked him in the eyes as she said, "You hurt me, Jake, and I wasted a lot of my life on you. But it's over now. You think being a bully is what makes you a man, but I'm here to tell you I know two men who treat me as an equal but still treat me as a lady too. I'm in love with one of them and you better never come near us again or I can't guarantee one of us won't beat you senseless next time."

Straightening up, she turned and left him moaning on the ground. That had felt incredibly good! Dean opened the car door for her, still grinning. As she got in, he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, whispering, "That's my girl."

Casey smiled, feeling better than she had in a long time. Even as they headed off down the road, she knew she and Dean still needed to have a talk, thought. There were a few things they needed to deal with so they could put everything behind time too.

Motel, later that evening
West Virginia

Dean hesitated just inside the door. He'd carried Casey's bag into the room and wasn't sure if she wanted him to stick around or if she just wanted to be alone after everything that had happened earlier with her ex-boyfriend. The drive from the diner had been relaxed although there'd still been the undertones of tension following the situation with Jake. Even if things seemed better, he wasn't entirely sure where things stood between him and Casey.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?" He glanced up as Casey waved him into the room as she sat down on one of the beds and curled her legs up under herself.

"Come'ere." She wrapped her arms around a pillow and said, "It's been a long week."

"It's been a long life." Dean said, his own exhaustion creeping into his voice. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and said, "Casey, I'm sorry you ran into Jake."

"Out of all the crappy diners in all the crappy towns…" Casey sighed, but smiled slightly. "He had to walk into that one."

Dean nodded, "What are the chances."

Casey rolled her eyes, "Astronomical I'm sure. Whatever. I don't want to talk about him any more, but we do need to talk. I know that...that things have been different ever since we got to the bunker. Maybe it was the fact that we were so busy, so focused on killing Pestis that we didn't have time to deal with...all of this. All the reasons that we don't...that we can't…"

"What? That we can't make this work?" Dean took her hands and said, "Because you're wrong, Echo. Wrong. We can make this work. I'm not saying it isn't going to be hard. Probably the hardest thing we've ever had to do. But I want this to work. I love you and I don't want to lose you. Can we work on this together?"

"I want to." Casey nodded, eyes a bit bright, but there was a smile on her face. She said,

"I need to apologize, Deano. Since we got to the bunker I let my emotions get the better of me and I let the fear take over. I let myself feel trapped and as if I were still with Jake. You are not him and I'm sorry for treating you like you were."

She pulled him closer and went on, "I realize now just how much I hurt you by treating you like you were Jake. I don't want things to keep being like this, I just…"

"You need time to heal. I get that now." He said, with total understanding at last. He squeezed her hands and said, "We can do this. We just need to talk to each other, ok?"

Casey nodded, "I agree. Even if it involves a lot of shouting?"

"As long as we're talking, I don't care how loud we get." Dean grinned, giving her a quick kiss. He started to pull away and she tugged him back. He asked, "What?"

"Where are you going?"

"It's late, I figured…"

"Let's watch a movie." Casey said, handing him the remote and scooting over on the bed

to make room for him.

Dean sat down next to her and let her snuggle under his arm as she started flipping channels. He said, "You do know I can't promise I won't protect you."

"That's ok, I kind of like it." She giggled.

"But I'll try not to smother you with it."

"Sounds good to me." Casey said, settling against him more comfortably. After only a second, though, she was sitting straight up and Dean looked at her in surprise.

"What's wrong, Echo?"

Casey looked to the door and said, "Crowley."

No sooner had the name left her mouth did her demon uncle appear in front of the screen.

"What do you want?" Casey asked, more annoyed than anything. "I've had a very long day and would like to watch a movie with my boyfriend. So if you don't mind…" Casey said and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"Now love, is that how you greet your favorite uncle?" Crowley sneered.

"Cut the crap Crowley," Dean said. He sat up and put an arm around Casey protectively, even though he really didn't figure Crowley was going to hurt her. He wondered if the demon were back because Bennett had been shredding more demons in the interim. He needed to remember to mention that little caveat to Sam and Casey later.

Crowley was glaring at him and said, "Look, I just wanted to make sure you were ok, love. I saw that dirtbag, Jack, or whatever and I just wanted to know if you wanted me to send Juliet after him," Crowley said. He averted his eyes, looking at the ugly orange carpet, clearly embarrassed to show that he actually cared.

"That's actually kind of sweet, in your own weird creepifying way," Casey stifled a laugh. "But I'm good. Really. I handled it."

"Okay, well if that's all…" Dean said, awkwardly waiting for Crowley to leave.

"Yes, right. Well I'll just be off then. You know how to reach me," Crowley snapped his fingers and was gone.

"Well that was…" Dean started.

"Oddly sweet," Casey smiled. "So how about that movie?"

"Sure. I think they have the new Casa Erotica on Pay Per View," Dean offered with a grin.

"Eww perv!" Casey laughed. She smacked his chest and took the remote. "How about Godzilla? It's the new one, I hear it's decent."

"The fact that I somehow scored a woman that not only can beat the crap out of just about anything but would also willingly watch Godzilla makes me pretty damn lucky," Dean laughed. He settled back against the pillows and pulled Casey close and just enjoyed the temporary calm of the evening.

"Well." Sam said after a few long moments.

It didn't appear that Dean or Casey were going to be leaving the room anytime...ever. They'd arrived at the motel and Dean had helped Casey carry her gear inside and they'd closed the door behind them without a single word. Sam looked at Bennett, sitting on the trunk, dutifully chewing her fifth piece of gum. The chewing gum industry was clearly going to benefit from the nicotine industry's loss. He smiled and walked over to stand next to her.

"Well." She repeated, popping a bubble and smiling at him. Tilting her head, she asked, "Think they're getting their issues sorted out in there?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "I sincerely hope so."

"Probably take 'em all night." Bennett pulled him closer so he was standing in front of her.

"Most likely."

She fiddled with the lapel of his coat and said, "I'm glad we've got our issues sorted out."

"Me too." Sam smiled, giving her a quick kiss.

"So we gonna sit out here all night?" Bennett asked impatiently. "Be a shame to let that other room go to waste."

Sam kissed her again and said, "True."

"The way they keep ignoring us is kind of rude." Bennett said, hopping off the trunk and grabbing her gear. "But I'm not complaining."

"No?" Sam asked, picking up his bag and following her to the other room. "Why not?"

She slammed the door behind him and threw her bag onto the table. Grinning, Bennett said, "Because as long as they're busy talking or whatever," she wrapped her arms around him, "we can get busy not talking...or whatever."

Sam kissed her and nodded, "Or whatever…"