I felt a change in my surroundings as I slept, and realized I wasn't in the same position. I opened my eyes to see...nothing. Something was on my face too.

Without raising my head I pulled my head back, away from the thing in front of my face, trying to figure out where I was.

"Well hello sleepyhead? How was the land of dreams?" I heard from above me and felt it below me.

Oh yeah, Dean...

"Where are we?" I had somehow rolled onto my side to face Dean's torso, rather than the car dashboard. Dean's hand slid off my shoulder as I rolled onto my back, looking up at him.

"We're almost home now."

I felt fuzzy, but somehow rested. "How long was I asleep for?"

"Ehh, only about half an hour, but you can sure snore..." Dean complained and I gave the leg under my head a tiny shot with my fist.

"Easy on the legs! They've already got no blood in them..." he whined, but I had already freaked.

"I'm SO sorry!" I pulled myself up on the seat until I was off his leg and scooted myself up and into a seated position, leaning against the car door. Amazingly, I didn't feel like I was going to faint.

"Lynn! Are you ok? Don't sit up like that, you're gonna pass out again!" It was Dean's turn to freak as I turned to him while leaning against the window.

"I'm...ok." I said slowly. "The spinning has stopped for some reason."

"Well, that's just dandy, but don't be going and sitting up quickly or running around for a while yet. The doctor said you are to be laid up for the next 48 hours and that's the way it's gonna be!" Dean emphasized his command by turning on the radio.

I'd only known this guy for a day and a half and I knew he did that so that I wouldn't argue with him.

But he also didn't know me very well...it's a good thing for him that I was too tired to argue and I had no energy to rebuke him for his dictatorship over my well being. May as well enjoy the fact someone else was in charge for a little while and allow myself to be taken care of. At least for the next few hours anyways.

A few minutes later we pulled into my driveway. As much as the sun was making the horizon pink in anticipation of sunrise, the earliest risers still wouldn't be up for a couple hours. I mustered all my energy and drive and opened my door for myself before Dean could get around and open it for me. 

"Wait for me," I heard Dean mutter at me as he scrambled out of his side of the vehicle. I was standing up by the time he made it to my side.

"I said wait for me!" He sounded truly annoyed and nearly angry with me this time, enough so that I stopped ignoring him and looked him in the face. He had a five-o-clock shadow appearing along his cheeks and above his upper lip. His eyes were nearly golden with green specks as he looked down at me disapprovingly in the pale moonlit-sunrise glow. He appeared in that moment a towering mass of strength and protection, like he thought I was some kind of challis about to hit the ground if he took his eyes off of me. And in that moment I knew...this was some sort of different man. This man had something deep within his eyes that told me he cared...far more than he wished to and far more than he thought he should, but he'd be darned if he didn't see this through.

So I relented.

"I'm sorry Dean, I just hate being a trouble to you." Dean started to sputter something about "not hearing him in the hospital room" but I interrupted as he looped his arm around my waist and shut my door for me. "I know you said it's no trouble, but you have to understand. I'm not used to this. At all. I have not only taken care of myself for years in any and all situations, but I've also taken care of my nearly invalid grandmother too. I'm used to doing things for myself, by myself, and no one else ever needing to step in and help."

We walked the rest of the way into the house in silence. As we walked through the front door, I could hear the soft sounds of a classic movie playing on the television. Dean shut the door behind us and we walked into the living room. Gramma had fallen asleep in her reclining chair, a blanket carefully settled over her and tucked in under her feet, just the way she liked. Sam was stretched out on the couch, his hair falling over part of his face, making him look 10 years younger, almost boyish in the innocence of sleep.

Dean and I looked at the pair before exchanging a look of contentment. As horrific as this night had been, here were our loved ones, safe and sound. And sleeping contentedly.

"Should we wake them up?" Dean whispered in my ear.

I shivered involuntarily at the sensation, "No, let them sleep...it's been one heck of a night for everyone." I whispered as I leaned my head up to look into Dean's face while he nodded his approval.

"We need to get you laying down somewhere." Dean glanced around the room, looking for a place to "put" me.

"They only other place to lay down is upstairs," I whispered. Dean said nothing, just began guiding me towards the stairs before lifting me up in his arms, cradling me as he carried me up the stairs.

Just as I was thinking I'd never get over the embarrassment of having him carry me, we reached the top step. Dean didn't say anything, just walked to the nearest room and opened the door with his shoulder. It was Gramma's room, but at this point, I didn't think it mattered. 

He carried me in and sat me on the bed, then sat down beside me. By the way he leaned his body forward and stared at the floor, I knew he was going to say something. He didn't seem like much of a talker, so I just waited until he was ready.

"You know, this job has never been...well, it's not easy." Dean finally began.

"I can only imagine..." I tried to sound sympathetic without sounding like I was pitying him.

"It's long nights, it's lonely, you can't just walk up to people and be all, 'hey, so a witch put a curse on me, do you have a doctor that can get here in the next 3 hours who can keep my teeth from falling out?' Or, 'so I got this vampire bite, is it true that it won't make me a vampire or do I have to wait 24 hours to find out?'

"Sammy and I, we...we've been each other's only friend pretty much our whole lives. I know what it's like to be close to family. To feel responsible, to watch out for them. You'd give your life over and over again if only it meant that they would be able to live a long and happy existence."

Dean went silent for a moment, still staring at the floor. I felt like he wasn't finished, so I waited again for him to continue.

"I understand what it's like to be fiercely independent." He side-eyed me before moving his gaze back to the floor. "Not because you're trying to prove something, but just because it's always been that way. You've got yourself to rely on and to fix the problem, finish the job, no one else. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm sorry for being hard on you when you were only trying to take care of yourself and your family."

Now the silence was deafening. I knew I needed to say something to that, but I felt like anything I was about to say to this man who was a stranger and a confidant at the same time would be stupid and at the very least not helpful. I reached out my hand gingerly. I'm an over thinker. It is annoying because I just want to reach out and connect with people, but usually I'm so focused on if I should or shouldn't do this or that little thing that I miss the moment. But this time I felt like it needed to happen. So I carefully, gently, reached my hand out and placed it on his shoulder, hoping he'd sense the comfort and understanding I was trying to show. How grateful I was for what he and his brother had done for me and my Gramma. How thankful I was that he existed. No amount of life experiences could have prepared me for what had happened the night before, Gramma and I were alive solely because these two brothers came to town on a hunch.

I made small circles with my thumb on his shoulder, waiting. As much as I knew this man...I didn't know this man at all and I had no idea how he would react, or if it was too forward or too much or not enough...

Then he looked up and smiled softly at me. Then I knew what to say.

"Thank you." I whispered as I gave his shoulder a final squeeze with a pat and started to pull my legs up onto the bed.

Dean jumped up and started helping me get my feet on the bed. I pulled my one leg up and started untying my shoe. Without a word, he grabbed my other foot and starting taking off my other shoe. I wanted to protest, but instead I just let him. 

This whole not being completely independent stuff is way harder than it sounds...

He helped me off with my jacket and I snuggled down into the pillows, too exhausted to even pull up the blanket. I'd pull it up after I'd gotten some rest.

Dean stood in the doorway of the room watching me, so I broke the silence.

"You're more than welcome to leave us now, just please put a note or something for Gramma so she knows I'm home and in her room...if you don't mind. Or you can stay and get some rest! I mean, Sam is already asleep so he's gotten ahead of you in that department."

Dean chuckled lowly at my attempt at humour. "I don't think we should leave you or your Gramma for that matter, unattended. At least until you've got your feet under yourselves again."

"Well, you need to sleep!" I argued with him, sitting up out of the pillows onto my elbows, even as my body wailed that it needed to rest.

"I'm fine! Sam's with your Gramma, I'm here with you, it's all good." Dean smiled fiendishly at me, but then...he yawned. One that came from his toes.

"Can you please pull the blind at the window for me?" I asked.

He looked at me surprised, "yeah, sure, of course."

He walked to the window and lowered all the blinds, shutting out the glimmer of sunrise light.

"Now come here." I leaned forward and grabbed the quilt Gramma kept folded at the bottom of her bed, pulling it to the side closest to the window. Then I scooted off the top of the comforter and into Gramma's bed, pulling the sheets and comforter over me as I sunk into the pillows again.

So much for waiting until I was more rested...

Dean had come to stand on the opposite side of the bed from me.

"Here," I held the blanket up for him. "You can sleep here...I won't have you just standing there exhausted while I sleep and if you won't leave me alone, we'll share."

Dean looked at me quizzically, "are you sure?"

I looked back at him with a touch of defiance. "Look, you saved my life, you took me to a strange hospital, your brother took excellent care of my grandmother while we were gone, I slept on your lap and you carried me all over this green earth. If you were going to hurt me you're doing a really, really poor job of it."

Dean just shook his head at me as he sat on the bed, kicked off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. I settled back down into the pillows as he pulled the blanket over himself and rolled over to face me.

We stared at each other for a moment in the semi-darkness.

"Thanks again, Dean."

"Don't mention it."

And for the second time that early morning, I fell asleep.

***

Something woke me up. I'm not sure what it was, but I know I heard something. I was cuddled into something warm...then I heard it again.

A soft snore.

I opened my eyes and my head swam with pain. It was all I could do not to groan out loud. Even though it hurt I raised my head so I could see above the pillows and blankets I was cuddled into. Dean was sleeping on his back now and I had cuddled into his shoulder, but other than that, we were basically where we had fallen asleep. I tried to roll over without waking Dean so I could see what time it was, but my movement must have made him stir.

He rolled back onto his side, facing me again, but because I was against his shoulder his left arm reached out and grabbed me like a pillow, pulling me close to him. There were approximately five layers of blankets between our bodies, so as he pulled me closer in his sleep, he started constricting my breath out of me. As much as I didn't want to wake him, I was going to have to.

"Dean?" I whispered. Nothing. So I just went for it. I peeled his arm off of me and scooted away from him, closer to the clock on Gramma's bedside table.

"Hmm, what...??" Dean rolled on his back and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

I looked at the clock and my blood ran cold. 

"It's 1:00 in the afternoon!" I threw my blankets off of me and flung myself out of bed, forgetting my injury.

Which was stupid.

Especially with Dean in the room.

'Cause as soon as I was up, I hit the ground in a woozy puddle of dizziness.

"Lynn! For crying out loud..." I heard Dean scrambling to get untangled from his blanket as I sat myself up and crawled to the wall so I could lean on it for support.

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly...exhaled slowly. I opened my eyes to see Dean kneeling beside me, his hair all scruffy, struggling to open his eyes properly. So far he only had one open part way and the other crinkled shut. I grinned at him sheepishly before moaning at the pain and nausea I felt wash over me.

"Are you ok? Why did you jump out of bed like that?" Dean blinked widely and rubbed the heel of his hand into his right eye as he leaned back and sat on the floor.

Just before I could answer, I heard a call from downstairs, "Dean? Lynn? You guys up? Gramma made us some pancakes if you want to come on down!" Sam's voice was light and happy, but my head was spinning, for more reasons than one.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" I moaned into my hands as I pulled my knees up to my chest, trying not to break down in tears.

"Lynn, what the heck is wrong? Are you in a lot of pain? Do we need to go back to the hospital?" 

Poor Dean. He was so concerned, but I didn't know how to tell him the weight of anxiety I was feeling right now. Every time I tried to rush I was in so much pain I could hardly breathe. I was already hours late for my shift at the diner, and not only did I need that job, I needed the money I was going to make at today's shift...I couldn't afford to not make money today. 

But I couldn't work, I knew that. There was no way I was going to be able to walk around at work, let alone hustle and bustle, remembering, carrying, rushing around. But I had to pay the bills...

And I had this man in front of me I didn't even really know, who seemed to only care that I was alright physically. He had no idea what was going on in my head and I had no idea how to tell him.

"The pills! You haven't taken any of your pain medication!" I heard Dean smack his leg and get up from the floor, walk around the bed and pick up his jacket from the floor.

"Yo, Sam!" Dean hollered as he fussed with his jacket, "can you get us a glass of water up here please?"

In no time at all I was back sitting on the side of the bed, glass of water drank, pain meds taken. I looked at Sam sitting beside me on the bed and gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks for the water, Sam."

"Anytime." He grinned, showing off his dimple.

"I know you guys will think this is ridiculous but...I'm terribly late for work." The clock now said 1:10pm. Sam tilted his head and raised his eyebrow quizzically. "Your grandmother was right! Wow." He nodded to himself surprised.

"What do you mean Gramma was right?" It was my turn to be confused.

"Your Gramma said you'd freak when you realized you weren't at work. Your Gramma called your boss at the restaurant and told her what happened last night. Well, the 'how you fell down all the stairs and broke the vase you were holding and how a piece of broken vase went into your forehead story' anyways," Sam chuckled, "and she said not to come in today or tomorrow if need be. She will take care of it." Sam smiled and gently patted my shoulder.

"But...but..." I started but Dean stood up from leaning on the wall and interrupted, "no buts! You're going to do just as the doctor ordered and eat up some of those pancakes your Gran has waiting for you, eh?" Dean placed his hands on either side of my lap as he leaned down to look at me at eye level.

As worried as I felt, I realized the damage had been done. Thankfully, I had a gracious boss who was not going to pull the carpet out from under my job just because I had a sick day. The money just wasn't going to be there. But as I looked into Dean's bossy eyes, I saw a glimmer there. Hope. Happiness. He wasn't letting all that he knew and what the future might hold get him down. He was going to be happy and enjoy those pancakes. I looked over at Sam who was smiling patronizingly at me and I felt myself relent immaturely with a giggle.

"Whatever...I guess I'll just have to sell some stuff to cover this month's mortgage payment..." I sighed dramatically, playing it off as a joke, but seriously considering that as an option actually made me feel a little better.

With a little help from the brothers who had come to bless our home with protection and security, I finally made my way out of the room and down the stairs, where Gramma and a big pile of her yummy pancakes were waiting for me.