Hello friends! Thank you so much for all your support! This was really a passion project that I didn't expect many to read, but here we are, 1k reads! How exciting! It is all thanks to you my lovely readers! So to celebrate here is an update of the continuing adventures of Dean and Erin! I hope you enjoy!

Happy Reading!

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It took us a couple hours to get to Minneapolis and it was dark when Dean parked on a side street a couple blocks off the main drag of Dinkytown. I hadn't spent much time in Minnesota, so I knew nothing about Minneapolis, but Dean seemed to know where he was going.

"So what are we doing here exactly?" I clarified. He had already explained it to me, but it seemed ridiculous. If we needed money, I had money, not a fortune by any means, but Jack had left me everything as had my parents. I offered to stop and pull money out of the bank, but Dean refused. He claimed there was a chance the demons could be using more tradition, human means, to track me and we weren't going to make it easy for them.

"There's a game in the backroom of a bar here. Lots of yuppy college dorks willing to bet away daddy's money for a thrill," Dean said with a derisive snort and a shake of his head. "Most bigger cities have them if you know where to look."

"And you know where to look," I said confidently. I licked my lips. "And you want me to..."

Dean flashed me a smirk. "Just let me know when someone is lying sweetheart. Think you can manage?" He challenged. There was a flirty light to his eyes that made my heart pound. He knew he was good looking and charming, part of me hated that it was working on me.

I snorted. "I manage you, don't I?" I teased, dishing it right back. The smile stilled on my face. I didn't understand how he did it. But somehow, despite all we had faced in the last few days Dean was still able to make me laugh when in reality I should be curled up sobbing somewhere. A powerful demon was after me, everyone who had encountered it was dead, everyone but me, and the hunter sitting next to me was the reason. And now, of all the absurd things, we were going bar hopping on a Saturday night.

I glanced down at myself with a frown. I was wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans. I wasn't exactly dressed for going out. I pressed my lips into a line. "Get out of the car," I told him.

Dean lifted his brows in surprise. I turned around and knelt on the seat so I could dig into my bag in the backseat. I pulled out a black, sweetheart, tank top I had bought to layer under other clothes. I was already wearing tight skinny jeans, and while my sneakers weren't exactly what I would have chosen for a night out they would have to do. I turned back to Dean and lifted my brows expectantly as I held the tank top.

"What?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"Out," I said, playfully slapping at his arm.

He sighed dramatically, but when he got out he came around and stood with his back to my window like a gentleman so no one could see in. I ducked down and quickly switched shirts. The tank top was a little lower cut than I realized. It was sweetheart cut with a small trim of lace along my cleavage. Definitely not my usual choice, but more appropriate for going out. I flipped down the visor and pulled my hair down from its messy bun. I shook out my hair and finger combed it into messy waves. I dug my makeup out of my bag and worked some quick magic in the dim light.

When I opened the door and climbed out Dean's eyes widened. He ran his eyes up and down my frame twice before he met my gaze with a pleased smirk.

"Stop," I snapped and swatted at him playfully.

"You look amazing," he said stepping towards me. He leaned over me, pushing into my space and my heart started to pound. I licked my lips and his smirk stretched suggestively. I wanted to kiss him, I didn't think he would mind, but we weren't actually here for a night out. The faster we got the money, the faster we could get the hex bags.

"We should get moving," I said a little breathlessly.

Dean shot me a knowing look, but took a step back shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "Yes, we should," he agreed.

He locked the car and stepped around so he was close as we made our way down the dark street. We crossed a few side streets and suddenly we were on a busy sidewalk surrounded by university students. Shops, restaurants and bars all along 4th street had their doors open, enjoying the rare mild fall evening.

We passed several bars before Dean turned down another side street and led me into one that looked like a total dive. It wasn't one I would have chosen to go into had I been alone. Dean held the door for me and I was shocked when we stepped inside and it was busy. Dean shook his head and chuckled to himself. He leaned in so his lips were near my ear when he spoke. "College kids love how trendy it is to be slumming it in a divey bar. Like it's dangerous or something." He pulled back to look down at me and I suddenly realized how close he was.

"Can I get you a beer?" He asked glancing down at my lips.

I nodded. Thinking I needed to focus and stop panting after him like that waitress from this morning. Women being attracted to him was nothing knew to Dean Winchester, and I had no interest in being one of them many.

I found us a high top to stand at and waited while Dean got two beers from the bar.

All around us cute college girls laughing loudly. I glanced back at them. They were only a few years younger than I was and enjoying their carefree life. I had always been envious of them.

Dean glanced back over his shoulder at me. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself uncomfortably. "You ever do the college thing?" He asked gruffly.

I glanced at him in surprise. It seemed so out of character for him to notice something like that, but I had no way of knowing what he was feeling. With so many people around I was in lock down. "I thought about it," I said casually. "But I never could figure out how to make it work..." I dragged off. "I did some on-line classes, but all of this," I said gesturing to the crowds around us. "It's too hard to be around so many people all the time."

Dean arched a brow and looked over the people surrounding us. "You're blocking everyone right?" He asked, concern darkening his eyes.

"Why? Got something to hide Winchester?" I teased with a grin, but I was touched that he was feeling so protective.

He snorted and shook his head as he sipped his beer. "I got nothing to hide," he said with a gleam in his eyes. "I'm an open book."

"Liar," I accused and was almost shocked to find I was full on flirting with him, and enjoying myself. I took a sip of my beer and looked down, my hair fell forward and hide my face.

Dean reached out and his warm fingers caught the chunk of hair and he tucked it behind my ear. His fingers grazed my cheek and I thought maybe he had done it on purpose to give me an insight.

I raised startled eyes to meet his as I was hit by his emotions. "I'm not-" I started to say automatically.

Dean snorted and shook his head. "I think I get to decide if I think you're beautiful or not."

I blushed and looked away and Dean let his hand drop. He confused me. There were times when he seemed unnerved by my abilities, and then he did something like this, purposefully reaching out and allowing me to read him.

Dean hesitated for half a second, then his eyes narrowed as he spied something over my shoulder. "Here we go." He muttered. He stepped into me and leaned down. To anyone watching it would have looked like he was kissing my neck. Instead he whispered near my ear. "I slipped a hundy to the bartender. He just waved me over, games in the back. You ready?"

I pulled back so I could look up into his face. "Absolutely," then, feeling a moment of confidence I pressed my lips against his.

He deepened the kiss, his hand tightening against my low back, then he smirked against my lips. "You sure?" He asked pulling back. His eyes ran over the people around us, it was a lot. I would be opening myself up to a lot.

"I would tell you if I couldn't," I assured him.

He snorted and shook his head. "Liar," he muttered almost too low for me to hear. He stepped up next to me and slung an arm over my shoulders. "Play along," he whispered near my ear. And he staggered, nearly dragging me down.

I stumbled sideways and fought to right him as we stepped through the doorway. I don't know what I expected. Maybe I had seen too many Bond movies, but the old beat up card table and folding chairs was hardly the suave poker game I envisioned.

"See," he slurred. "I told you there was a game," he laughed and turned to look down at me. "And you said we should just go home," he snorted and booped my nose with his finger.

I scowled and flinched back from the motion. "I think it's time for us to go home," I told him, just loud enough for the other players to hear.

Dean pulled away from me, staggered a step and scoffed loudly, over-gesturing at me. "Time for you to go home," he mocked and he half fell into his chair. "I'm going to play some poker with my new friends."

I crossed my arms angrily over my chest and pouted like an angry girlfriend, but I was slowly lowering my walls. I was tentative at first. There were about ten people in the room, which was a lot for me to be open to, and I was painfully aware of the mob of people just beyond the door. It took all my concentration and skill to stay focused on what was happening in front of me.

I didn't know much about Texas Hold'Em but I could feel Dean was supremely confident as he sat down at the table. He tossed a wad of cash at the dealer and flashed a sloppy smile at the other guys sitting around the table.

Of the other four players, all but one looked like college kids. One wore a sweatshirt with Greek letters across his chest. The other two were dressed in the kind of expensive jeans that were made to look worn. They had money, a lot of it and had a casual cockiness about them that made me think it didn't matter much to them if they won or lost. The last guy was in his mid-fifties. He wore a sports coat and looked like a caricature of a college professor. I wondered if he actually was one. He was the only one at the table who shared the same calm confidence as Dean. However while Dean's was laced with a underlying sense of fun this man was deeply focused.

The first few hands Dean leaned into the sloppy drunk routine. He laughed too loudly and told terrible jokes. Every time catching my eye at some point. The first few hands no one was bluffing. I actually had a moment to doubt my abilities to sense a liar, right up until the fourth hand when the professor laid down a huge bet out of the blue.

Dean's green eyes caught mine and I reached up and touched my face. Dean took the guy for all he had. A controlled, pleased smirk crossed his face as the others seemed to realize just how much trouble they were in. They played for an hour before the kid in Greek letters cashed out. The other two quickly followed after losing all of their allowance money, leaving just Dean and the professor. Dean sipped on a beer, leaning casually in his chair while I continued to fidget and complain like a bored girl friend. On more than one occasion the professor's eyes cut to mine, but he couldn't seem to figure out a way I was helping Dean win so he quickly wrote me off as an annoyance and focused on the game.

I didn't know much about poker, but I did know about liars, and if I was honest with myself Dean was one of the best I had ever seen. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that as I wanted him to win. I could always tell if he was lying but it was something to consider about his nature.

It took another five hands before we cleaned the Professor out as well. He was gracious about losing so much money, but I could feel an underlying panic that didn't show up on his face. Panic and fear, he owed someone, big.

"Thanks for the wonderful evening," Dean said with a cheerful grin. He slid the money into his pocket and rested his hand on the small of my back to guide me out of the door ahead of him.

My head was pounding with the effort of using my power. I was exhausted and it took more effort than it should to tighten up my walls. I was so focused on myself that I missed the threat completely.

"Hey asshole," Dean turned just in time to see one of the college kids take a swing at him. He ducked under it and came around behind the kid. Shoving him against the bar.

"Hey!" Security called.

Dean held up his hands to show he was done. "We're leaving," Dean promised and the two of us slipped out the door before any more trouble followed us.

We walked two blocks down to another bar, this one advertising that there were pool tables inside. Dean flashed me a grin and held the door open for me to step up to him. He dropped his arm around my shoulders again and we swaggered in.

Dean staggered again and let out a loud laugh. "Pool!" he called a little too loudly. "I love pool!" He pulled me towards the pool tables and I stumbled after him.

There were several people playing. A few looked like they were casually passing the time, but my eyes landed on a douchy looking college kid with a popped collar. He was grinning at his friends as he took a shot. There was cash sitting on the edge of the table. Dean pulled me towards them, stumbling over my feet as I struggled to keep up. Dean reached sloppily into his pocket and slapped twenty dollars on the side of the table then stumbled and nearly fell.

"I call nexts," he said with a chuckle. Then he whirled around and nearly upended himself. He raised a hand, calling a waitress over to us.

"Shots!" he said and he laughed again. "Shots for me and my new friends."

"Dean," I started to say, doing my best to sound like a bitchy girlfriend.

"No!" he snapped whipping around and pointing a finger in my face just a little too close. "You said we could go out. And its too early to go home now!"

"Then give me the car keys," I ordered.

Dean snorted and twirled the car keys around his finger, he dropped them on the ground and snatched them back up. "Like I would let you drive my baby."

"Hey, so are we -ah playing or what?" the douchy college kid asked looking at Dean.

"Course!"

The kid exchanged a look with his friends. "So the ah buy in is actually a hundred dollars."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" Dean asked. The waitress came and brought a tray of shots. Dean threw back two. Then opened his wallet, he was clumsy enough to let the kid see the pile of cash in there. He struggled with the money and I blew out a frustrated sigh. I stomped over to him and dug through it.

"If you're going to do this at least don't be stupid," I snapped and I dropped the bills down on the side of the table and took out a twenty and handed it to the waitress. "Keep the change," I told her.

My fingers glazed Dean's and I could feel the cunning. He was a born hunter, but this was a different kind of hunting for him. This was the kind he could enjoy and not feel guilty about later and I had been around him after enough fights to know he did feel guilty about being so good at it. This was the kind where no one got hurt.

I added con-man to the growing list of things I knew about him. I blew out a frustrated sigh and dropped into one of the chairs near the douches friends. One of them leered at me as Dean broke and barely hit the cue ball hard enough to actually break up the balls. The friends all laughed and Dean chuckled at his own mistake and took another drink. I watched him closely as he lifted it to his lips but his throat never moved he made a show of stumbling over his own feet and spilled the drink onto the floor.

The first game was brutal. Dean missed all but the most obvious shots and the rest was painful to watch. At least it was fast. When they were done the douche snatched up the money and slipped it towards his pocket. Dean reached out to stop him, spilling part of his drink on him.

"Hey!" the kid complained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean slurred. "Lets go again."

"No Dean," I started but he waved me off.

"I'm ga-good at pool," he stammered. He pulled more cash out. "How about..." he pinched one eye shut as he counted out the money. "How about..." he dragged off as he counted. "Eight-eight hundred."

The kids eyes widened.

"If you don't got it-" Dean said quickly. "We could do two?"

"No!" the kid said quickly. He turned to his friends and held out his hand. "Give me everything you guys got."

The friends dug out their cash and handed it over.

"One more game," the douche agreed.

"After this can we go home?" I complained impatiently.

Dean chuckled. "Why don't you get yourself another drink sweetheart, then I'll take you home."

The douche racked them and motioned for Dean to break.

"You know," one of the friends said sidling up to me. "You could try spending an evening with a real man."

I watched Dean's shoulders stiffen as he bent over the pool table. A small smile twisted my lips and I turned to face the kid. "A real man?" I asked with a flirty smile. "You mean like you?"

"Well..." he started to say as though I was flattering him. Dean turned his head to look in our direction, his eyes narrowing on the kid who slid his hand towards me.

I snorted and shook my head so Dean would know I didn't need him to interfere. "It sort of looks as though I would be in the same divey bar as I am right now."

The kid pulled back, blinking in surprise and in that same moment Dean hit the cue ball and broke, sending several balls into the pockets. The douche and his friends all startled.

Dean slowly lifted his eyes with a grin. "Told you I was good," he winked at me and then moved around to sink the rest of the balls, easily winning the game. He snatched up the cash and slid it into his pocket.

"Thanks for the game boys," he said with a grin. He dropped his arm around my shoulders and led me to towards the door. I could smell the whiskey on his breath and when his fingers grazed the skin at the back of my neck I could feel the elation he felt. How light and buoyant he was. He was having fun and it made me smile. It had been kind of fun.

"Hey," the douche kid called after us.

Dean turned around to face him, his eyes hard and I felt the rise of excitement. "Trust me," Dean drawled confidently. "You don't want this."

"You cheated us," the douche accused.

"Yeah well, consider it a valuable lesson," Dean said with a confident smirk and we headed out the door. He paused and turned back to face the friend who had grabbed me. "You're damn lucky I didn't break that hand," he said and I felt a possessive, protective swirl rise off of Dean that made me feel incredibly safe.

We were walking side by side back towards the car when Dean suddenly tensed. He stepped up next to me and dropped his arm over my shoulders. His fingers slid up under my hair and glided against the skin of my neck. He wanted me to know what he was feeling in that moment.

He was wary and on edge. Suspicious and worried. I frowned. He was trying to communicate without tipping off the person following us. He was worried. I glanced towards the figure and slowly lowered my walls one last time. But there was nothing to feel.

I leaned into his chest, my lips near his ear. "Demon." I whispered and there was a slight tremble to my voice as I realized they had found us.

Dean nodded but his eyes were grim. He turned down to me, sliding his hands up into my hair and leaning into me. To the person following it would have looked like he was kissing me, but he spoke against my lips. "Abandoned building up on the right. Go around the block, come in the south door."

I nodded, and shivered.

"You okay?" he asked, looking down at me. I could feel that he didn't want to do this. Didn't want to leave me alone, but he had to deal with the demon.

I nodded and he kissed me, hard and fast. His hand slid up under the back of my tank top and he slid the cold steel of his gun into the back of my pants. His hands moved over me and he slid the tank top back over it so the gun was concealed. It wouldn't do much against a demon, but it was the only protection he could give me.

He pulled back. "I'll go get your jacket," he said loudly enough that the demon following us would have heard. It gave the demon time to hide as Dean moved back towards the bar. I knew that as soon as he was out of sight he would be rushing to lay the trap. I stared after Dean and the shiver from the cold wasn't pretend.

It was so strange to think of how much my life had changed since I met Dean. Jack had taught me to take care of myself, but to always run, to escape and save myself. Dean was teaching me to take a stand and fight the monsters. I wrapped my arms around myself and started walking back down the street hoping the demon would follow me.

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Well...I hope you liked it!!!
Thank you again for all your amazing support!