Chapter 4:

Love Doesn't Last Too Long – the Weepies

I watch the sun go down, I watch the sun go down Then I wander around, then I wander around

Liz wasn't sure when she'd come to believe that Dean was coming home or even if she really did. It could just be a secret hope she'd let fester for too long in the dark recesses of her heart. Either way, she didn't consciously acknowledge it until she'd realized she'd been slowly but surely clearing room for him in the every day workings of their life.

It was small things at first.

She left a shelf clear in the bathroom after she'd put away the holiday decorations, telling herself that she was just searching for the perfect accessories to go there. Then she'd picked up a couple of the cheesiest B horror movies she'd ever come across when she saw that they were on sale. They weren't films she'd ever watch on her own and Nate was too little to watch them but still... into the cart they'd gone. Occassionally she'd grab a some socks or tee shirts and she'd tell herself that they were for her for bed. Except they sat in the closet unopened.

When she'd come home from grocery shopping with a bag full of food that she would never under normal circumstances allow under her roof, it had been a tad more difficult to convince herself that it was just a whim. Any self denial though had been wiped clean after she'd bought a new dresser for her that was built for two and left half the drawers empty.

Dean was coming home.

She hoped.

It's here then it's gone
Love doesn't last too long

"Everything that's going on, everything that's chasing us. Do you really want to bring that there?"

Dean stared up at his brother from his precarious position at the edge of the bed, not quite believing the words that were flowing from the younger mans mouth. A part of him realized the sense in it. He didn't want that type of danger anywhere near his family.

Of the two desires warring inside him though, that was the less significant. To him it had been near half a century since he'd last seen played with his son, listened to the near senseless giggles that could be brought on with a light press of fingers against the boys ribs. Almost a century since he'd held Liz: Felt her hair against his chest. Buried his face in the curve of her neck. Let himself be carried away by the steady beating of her pulse.

He had just re-memorized the smell of her when he'd been ripped from her.

Forty years was too long to be kept away. So even with the threat of violence that had been a steadily growing shadow in their lives for longer than he could remember. Despite the demons that might to be out to get him for having been pulled out of the pit or the angels that had done the deed. No matter what he was meant to be doing in repayment for the new chance at life and the restrictions they wanted to shackle him with.

Inspite of all that, Dean was going home.

I didn't even have time to get it straight in my mind
To catch up from behind, to see that I was blind

With an impatient eye-roll and a cry of 'Mommy' that was just on the border of being a whine, Liz ushered Nate on to the school bus and after watching the wheels kick up the fine layer of dust that seemed to cover everything contrary to the relative grassy-ness of southern Texas, she turned and started walking back to the house.

She'd called into sick for the day. Not that that was much of a hassle. She only had office hours anyway and her students were generally so apathetic, if they had a problem they were content with sending her emails instead of getting off their asses to come see her. As a professor new to the university, she wasn't overseeing any honors students or checking dissertation level work.

All in all despite being one of the brightest minds in her fields and always being willing to help the school when they needed her, Liz was basically a glorified intern for all the prestige she got. She really missed PUCMM. There she would have made department head with in ten years. When the time had come to leave the DR, she'd been more than willing to jump ship but what had made her leave hadn't been available for four months.

If she wasn't so set on not uprooting Nate again, they would have left almost as soon as arriving.

With a sigh, she closed the door behind her reveling in the breeze from the ceiling fans she'd installed as soon as she'd bought the place. They were the only relief from the dry heat that threatened to swallow her whole everytime she dared to step outside. The sensation wasn't unfamiliar and it was one she often enjoyed but there were those days that it just killed.

Wondering yet again why she had taken the day off for no apparent reason, Liz dropped herself onto the couch and waited.

And I wish I was wrong
But love doesn't last too long

The house was what he had expected once Sam had told him where he'd find his family.

Away from the busiest parts of town and set back from the surrounding area, it was a small Spanish style house with large arched windows covered by dark wood shutters; opened wide to let fresh air in but slanted enough to keep the sun out. The terra-cotta roof was faded but still a bright red against the white stucco of the exterior. There was a small screened in porch in the front overlooking a front garden full with untamed growth and random toys scattered across it.

A bike. A hockey stick. A truck. A stuffed animal sitting on the front stoop watching the neighborhood.

He could pick out a dozen or so small things that needed to be fixed within a minute of seeing the number on the mailbox but he couldn't help the tension that eased from his shoulders. The unreasonable edge of panic that he'd felt since they'd gotten into the Impala was still there but the knee jerk impulse to turn around and leave was gone.

Even if she was pissed or didn't want to see him, even if somehow she'd moved on with her life. Dean needed to see her. Needed to hold her for as long as Liz would let him. In a fluid movement, he'd turned off the car and stepped out.

All you lovers in the dark can forget what I said
'Cause it still goes on in my heart
And it still goes on in my head

It was with a level of resignation and a hint of fear that Sam followed his brother out of the Impala, looking at the house that should have been more familiar than it was. He had known the last time that he had come that Liz wasn't liable to accept Ruby's presence so her reaction hadn't been all that surprising.

At the time he'd convinced himself that he had done it for full disclosure, now he wasn't so sure. There were so many things in their life that could easily kill his nephew and his sister-in-law, his exploration of his gifts weren't going to make them any safer. People around Sam tended to die sooner rather than later. He didn't want to get them anymore involved than they had been.

But there wasn't anytime left to turn around.

Before they'd reached the front steps the screen door opened revealing a petite feminine form. Tanned skin, dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, wide brown eyes frozen open in shock; Liz looked better than she had. Healthier, happier, less like she was about to keel over.

Neither Dean nor her moved for several long minutes, both too off guard to respond. He saw his brother move first but it was Liz who crossed the distance fastest. Sam waited for the two bodies to crash together in an embrace that would leave him embarrassed to be an interloper and a little jealous of what he didn't have but it didn't come.

Instead, Liz's hand wiped through the air and landed with a loud smack against Dean's puzzled cheek.

Rivers to the sea, rivers to the sea
How it is right now is how it's always gonna be

Her hand was stinging when she brought it up to cover her mouth, the tears already pooling in her eyes. She felt her chest shaking and her legs only kept her upright because at some point in the last few minutes they'd locked up but god, he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Even with the angry read hand mark on his face.

A hysterical laugh slipped through her lips before they were crashing down on his, hungry and reckless. He responded immediately, his arms crushing her against him trying to pull her through him. She desperately trailed her lips from the corner of his mouth along his chin to the curve of his neck, holding him as tightly as she could.

His shoulder shook under her finger, hot droplets running along her neck. They were both too lost to know what they were doing and her lips curved over the same words over and over again though she didn't know who she was saying them to or even if they had any real meaning.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

It's here then it's gone
Love doesn't last too long

Dean woke up hours before he normally would.

He laid where he was as long as he could, enjoying the press of familiar bodies on his, before deciding that he really needed something to eat. He kissed Liz's bare shoulder and unwrapped Nate's arms from around his neck, careful not to wake either of them.

Running a hand through his hair he let out a harsh breath, he'd never get used to having them.
The kitchen tiles were cool against his bare feet, as he made his way to the refrigerator. It was filled with vegetables, meat, fruit, and dairy products. Things that he could make if he really wanted. He wasn't that desperate. Opening up the freezer he smiled at the decent size stack of frozen burritos and pizza. She really was too good for him.

“Humans,” a newly familiar voice said behind him. Dean's body tensed but didn't turn. Fucking angels, “always think they know what's best.” He pulled one of the burritos out and took it from its wrapper. “As if they know the whole of history and they alone can find meaning in it.”

“Hmm,” he feigned disinterest. Dean did not want any supernatural being in their house. “What do you want Castiel?”

“You shouldn't have come here Dean. Not yet.”

“I wasn't going to wait.”

They stared each other down. One with the power of the heavenly host. One with the desperate wish to keep his family. Dean wasn't about to give them up. Not for anyone.

“Did you know that angels can fall from the heavens? It's not something we make known to humans but it is possible for us to descend. If our grace is removed, a process that is more painful than anything even you have experienced, we fall. Humans can see us then, briefly, before we become a seed of creation for any woman. A child.”

He thought back to the concerns that Liz had told him, the words flowing out of her with more than a hint of unease, “Are you saying my son was an angel?”

“No,” Dean sighed in relief. “His mother was.”

I watch the sun go down, I watch the sun go down

Then I wander around
Then I wander around
Then I wander around

Chapter 5