Dallas, TX 2015

For the second day in a row, the insides of Cassie’s eyelids burned. She groaned, trying to get the numbers on the thermometer to focus.

101 degrees.

Obviously the antibiotics and aspirin weren’t helping. She stumbled toward the thermostat and lowered the temperature. If her fever didn’t stop rising, she’d have to go back to the doctor. Crap. She had meetings to attend. A magazine to run. “Crap!”

Cassie yanked the blanket from her bed and slung it across her bedroom window. A thin sliver of afternoon sun peeked through, but it was better than the glaring rays which had radiated through the curtains. With a deep breath, she lifted her t-shirt over her head and let the cool air tingle over her body for few minutes.

Much better.

Climbing into bed with only a pair of panties on, she tucked the sheet under her arm and closed her eyes. It took a few minutes to adjust the pillows beneath her head, the cold pack against the back of her neck, and the pile of her sweaty hair away from her face.

But when it was done she actually felt partially alive again. The air from the ceiling fan fluttered the thin sheet over her legs, creating a gentle breeze and the pounding in her head subsided to a dull thud.

She might actually be falling asleep because for a moment, she thought she heard the tumbling click of the front door. Maybe Dean was home.

No. He would have dropped his bag in the foyer, rumbled through the fridge and then called her name as he walked down the hallway. She smiled even though it made her cheeks hurt. She loved the deep throated sound of her name when he returned home. It hadn’t yet stopped sending a pleasant shiver down her spine. “Mmm.” She was definitely drifting.

Finally sleeping.

And in the next moment, a thunderous crack shook the walls and jerked her from her quasi-dream. Her eyes fluttered opened in time to see a flash of guns in the semi-darkened room and she let out a long screaming groan.

“Cassie, are you alright?”

“What are you doing?”

Her words mixed with Dean’s and jumbled in her head while she struggled to pull the sheet from her waist up to her neck. “What is wrong with you two?”

“So sorry.” Sam turned around and walked out.

Dean holstered his gun and then strained his neck from side to side. “Why are you naked?” He swallowed hard, his eyes darting around the room. “Ohhhh, are you sick? You’re just sick?” He chuckled, and then went into a rambling fumble of words and phrases. “…I tried to call…guns…Sam’s idea…reasonable explanation.”

The pain started in her temples, inching its way through her and she began the process of getting comfortable again. “Please stop talking.” It hurt too much to decipher what he was saying.

***

“Sweetheart, it’s time for your pills.”

Cassie turned over in bed and Dean’s smiling face came slowly into focus. “What time is it?”

“Two in the morning. You’ve been out for eight hours.”

She struggled up against the headboard, noticing that she was wearing a t-shirt and that her hair hadn’t fallen into her face. “You did my hair?” She reached up and twirled her fingers through the lopsided ponytail.

“Yeah.”

He avoided her gaze and dropped two tablets into her hand.

“Are you hungry? I can make you some soup.”

She swallowed the pills, shaking her head, and then snuggled down next to him. A moan rumbled across his chest as his fingers scraped down her arm. “Dean, what worried you so much this afternoon?”

“Uhhh, nothing.” His voice pitched higher, then lower and then he repeated himself. “Nothing at all.”

Though she knew the dull ache in her head would return, Cassie rose up on her elbow and stared into his eyes. “You left me eleven messages, three texts, and came into our bedroom with your gun drawn. That says worry.”

“Alright.” He turned her onto her back.

Even in the darkness, she could see the glazing of his eyes. The veil he used to protect her had descended.

“You always answer my calls.” His lips curled up into a devilish smile. “I find you naked in the middle of the afternoon without me home and I overreacted.”

“Hmm…mmm…” After eighteen months together, he was still hiding behind that smile. “What was the job?” she asked, feeling his body tense beneath her fingertips.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, you owe me.” Cassie locked her arms around his waist. “This afternoon, your brother saw me topless with crusty eyes and most likely drooling. So you owe me more than a missed phone call. What were you working on?” She wrapped her legs around his as he tried to untangle himself.

“Cassie, let go.”

“Start talking. This actually hurts me more than you.” She winced.

Dean relaxed next to her, half holding her in his arms while she raked her fingers through his hair. After a long while he began to speak.

My God, she repeated in her head as he told her of the beatings he’d received, those drawn out moments when he thought he was dying and the exact second he believed he wasn’t ever going to see her again.

My God.

***

Dean opened his eyes after finding that Cassie wasn’t on either side of him. The blanket had been pulled down from the window and lay across body, the soup bowls and glasses for juice had been removed the nightstand. “Cassie!” he yelled into the empty bedroom. There was no answer but the smell of bacon drifted through the opened door. He made his way out into the hallway.

He found her in the kitchen moving around as if she hadn’t been almost comatose two days ago. The loose curls of her dark brown hair flowed over her coffee with cream colored face while she set plates of bacon and scrambled eggs on the table. “You shouldn’t be up.”

“I’m well enough to go zip lining with you today.” She stumbled over to him, smiling weakly.

Son of a bitch. “You heard me talking to Sam?” Dean lowered his chin into chest and slunk down against the open archway. Earlier, he’d tried so hard not to raise his voice. Yes, they had a job to do. Yes, he’d been a prick and asked Sam to give up so much. Yes, to it all but…not her…not again.

“Sam needs you. And when he needs you, then something more important than my bout with the flu is happening. I’ve called my cousin and she’s on her way here to stay with me until this thing is over. So you won’t have to worry about me fainting alone.”

He laughed, holding her steady against him. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you. Not the other way around.” In the last two days, he’d opened and heated endless cans of soup, made sure she’d taken her medicine on time and helped her in and out of the bath. And yet she was the one making it all better for him. Not just this hunt but the ones to come.

“I don’t know how to make you believe it, but this job doesn’t scare me.” She pushed up on her tip toes to kiss the corner of his mouth. “In my heart, I know you’ll come back to me until you can’t.” She kissed the other corner and then rested her body against his.

The sprigs of curls popping out from the loose ponytail tickled under his chin and he laughed again. “No wonder I love you. You’re as crazy as I am.” He cradled her into his arms and looked down at the sexiest smile he’d ever seen. “I’ll go on one condition. Call me. Even if it’s just to tell me good morning.”

“I’ll call every day.”

And then the impossible happened.

Her smile brightened, illuminating the nooks and crannies of his soul. And for all he knew of Heaven and  Hell and Earth, he’d never witnessed anything as beautiful as Cassandra Robinson Tyler beneath him with her back bowed in the throes of ecstasy.

“Oh my…Cassie.”

The sweetest song ever sung.

***

Six weeks later…

“Achoo! Sorry. I’m coming down with a cold.” As promised, Cassie made her morning call to Dean. Though today, she was the one dulling the apprehension in her voice while all she heard was a smile in his.

“Again? Maybe you get the house looked at. For mold or something?”

“Something. Sweetie, I really have to run this morning. I’ll see you a few days.”

“Sure. I should be there by Thursday.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too.” He clicked off.

Long after the call ended she held the phone to her ear, staring at the thin strip of white plastic pinched between her fingers. Two distinct pink lines glared before her.

How was she going to tell him that he was going to be a daddy?