Ari grinned up at Dean as he hesitated.
“It’s okay for me to make love,” she said as she pulled his head down to hers. 
He kissed her lips thoroughly before he moved to her neck.  Ari sighed as she closed her eyes.  Thirty years and I finally found someone, please God gives us many years together.  I know I don’t deserve it, but please.  Dean leaned up to look in her eyes to see tears there.
“What?”
“Nothing, just glad to have you here.  Get used to tears, it’s a woman’s right,” she teased him before he went back to sucking her neck. 
She made a conscious effort to give him pleasure after that instead of just enjoying what he gave.  She caressed his hair as she arched her back to get closer to him.  Her fingers followed the line of his spine as she traced it and the muscles in his back.  Meanwhile Dean worked magic on her collarbone before tantalizing her breasts with his tongue.  She moaned because the build up seemed too long when she was aching to have him inside her.  She squeezed his tight butt to give him a hint to move it along but he only smiled to himself.
“This could be called torture,” she said with a giggle.
“Sweet Torture, maybe?”
“Um, yes,” she said with a moan.
“Turn on your stomach,” he said a moment later. 

Ari did as she was told with a smile at him.  She lay flat with her butt up in the air as she turned her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow.  He easily slid inside her from behind with his hands on her firm rump.  He closed his eyes as he imagined the look on her sweet face.   Ari met him on each thrust, as she pushed against him, if it weren’t for the fact that they were not face to face this would be her favorite position.  It definitely got straight to the heart of the matter and her orgasm came fast.  Dean speeded up a bit before his release came a few minutes later.  He admitted to himself that as far as sex went he enjoyed it more with Ari because he had strong feelings for her.  Maybe its psychological?  He wondered for a second; physically it’s the same, so emotional attachment was what had been missing in his dealings with women.  Of course, that would have been the main reason to avoid relationships since he had no time for them.  It’s probably a fundamental fact, his geeky brother had known all along, he thought.  He moved from behind her to beside her again as he looked in her eyes.  She leaned up to kiss him with her hands on his face, she assumed he was tired and ready to sleep so she was quiet.
“Thank you again,” she whispered as she buried her head in his chest and yawned. 
“My pleasure,” he said as he ran his hands over her hair.

    Sam tossed and turned after Paris left though he had no idea she was gone until the next morning when he found the note.

Dear Sam,
I think I love you but I do not think I can be what you need so I am leaving before both of us get hurt.  I will call to let you know I made it back safely.  Take care.
Love,
Paris
 
Sam frowned  as he laid the note on the nightstand.  He lay back in bed with his hands behind his head.  He figured if she had her mind made up then he would not try to change it especially since he knew he had feeling for Jo.  But what about Jo?  He slept with her because he felt a strong attraction and because he was weak in that area all of a sudden.  My subconscious must have known Paris was all wrong for me, he reasoned aloud to himself.  He wished that he had known the end from the beginning as he sighed, but that would make me God.

    There was a light tap, tap, tap on the door early that next morning.  Dean rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock.  Seven o’clock, he groaned.
“Come in Amber,” he said after he gently shook Ari awake.  Ari looked at him with one eye opened then quirked her eyebrow.
 “Hey Sweetie,” Ari said as she sat up to greet her daughter.
Amber stood at he door with her new puppy under her arm, she was all grins.
“Thank you, Dean,” she said with appreciation.
“Well bring him here he said as she came in the room to hand the puppy to Ari.
Ari cuddled it as she put the little one in her arms.
“So what are you naming it?” Ari asked.
“Um, I think Midnight or Blackie.”
“I have an idea,” Dean said.
“What?”
“How about name it Sammy, since it has long legs like Sam.”
Amber laughed. 
Ari shook her head, Sam was going to freak.
“I’ll think about it,” she said like a big girl, before she took her puppy and left the room.

    Though they were awake, they did not want to get up.  Ari leaned her head against Dean’s shoulder.
“Do you ever think of me as a hooker?” she asked into the silence.
“No.” he said as he held her against him.
“I would understand if you do, maybe its only natural.”
“Ari if I thought of you that way I would not want to be with you.”
“Why?”
“Because I am a man, and men are selfish bastards.”
“You mean the thought of me with other men would be too much.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh.”
Dean looked down at her, he had not taken the time to picture her in her old life because they had fallen hard for one another.  He did not want to start doing it now either.  He kissed her nose.
“Maybe we should go join the others,” Dean suggested effectively ending the conversation. 
Ari watched him from the bed as he headed to the shower.
“You coming?” he asked before she followed him in the bathroom.

    They were under the water with his arms tightly around her before she spoke again.
“The other dream I had ….your mother was in it.”
“What? What did she say?” he asked.
Ari hesitated as he rubbed the conditioner through her hair.
“Um, she said you needed me.”
Dean smiled at her.
“But in the previous dream I was threatened by the yellow eyed demon.”
Dean swallowed as he held her again him as he finished rinsing her hair.
“But you want to be with me despite that?”
“Yes.”
“I know dreams are symbolic, but Ari I do need you.”
Ari smiled as she pushed him against the shower wall.

    Jo was in the kitchen at the table eating a muffin when Amber came in the room.
“Oh, how do you like your gift?”
“I love it, but what should I name it?  I think it’s a boy.”
Jo smiled.
“Yep. it’s a boy.  Maybe name it Sammy.”
Amber screwed her face up into a frown.
“That is what Dean said.”
“Oh.”
They both turned around when Sam walked in.
“What?”
“Can I name the puppy, Sammy?” Amber asked as she stood in front of the giant who was Sam.
He smiled at her as he picked her and the dog up.
“I would be honored if you named it Sammy, but he needs to have something to go with it since you call me Sammy too.”
“Okay,” she said after he put her down again.
She bit her lip as she sat down with the puppy in her lap to think.

    Chet came in while they sat around the table. 
“Morning.”
“Hey Chet,” Sam said as he got up to get a cereal bowl.
“Morning, Chet,” Jo said.
“Morning,” Dean said as he and Ari came in the kitchen together. 
Ari’s face was aglow and Dean was all smiles.  Jo surprised herself by asking a question without considering the implications first.
“Are you pregnant?” she asked as she looked questioningly at Ari.
Ari smiled.
“No, I am not.” Was her reply.
Dean was quiet as he retrieved two bowls from the cabinet.  Sam decided to make his announcement.
“Paris left last night to go back to Michigan.  It didn’t work out for us,” he said as he ate.
“I’m sorry to hear that, I mean if you are unhappy about it,” Ari said cautiously.
Everyone else said nothing.
“I think it was best for her to go back.  I mean I am going to be working anyway.”
That was the end of the subject.  Jo watched Sam from across the table though she pretended not to.   Dean had told Ari about Jo and Sam so she was far from surprised.  She believed Jo had some good qualities and some bad just like the rest of the human race.

    Sam was the one who noticed the ring on Ari’s finger.  She caught his eye and smiled.  He wasn’t sure if he should say anything or not so, he kept quiet.  Jo saw where he was looking and her eyes became round as saucers.
“So you are engaged?”
“Yes,” Dean said with a smile at Ari.
“Congratulations,” Chet said and Sam echoed his sentiments.
Jo seemed to be in shock.
“You okay?” Ari asked.
“Oh yeah, congratulations that’s nice,” she managed to say with what seemed like a smile. 
“Thank you,” Ari said as she continued to eat. 
Dean didn’t look up he only smiled as he continued to eat. 

    Later after she spent time outside with Sam and Amber, Jo came back inside to find Dean alone in the study.  She tapped on the door after she made certain no one else was around.
“Can I come in for a second?”
“Sure what’s up?” he asked as he put done the sheet he had been reading. 
“Um, you don’ t know Ari very well and you asked her to marry you just like that.  I mean I didn’t think you were the commitment type now you are engaged.  Is she pressuring you?...”
Dean interrupted her.
“First, I do not need you in my business.  Second, I am a grown man and didn’t ask your advice.  Third, get the hell out of here before I say something I will regret,” he said before going back to the research he had been working on. 
Jo swallowed hard before she got up from the chair were she had sat down only a moment before.
“I’m sorry Dean, I just don’t think she is who she claims to be.”
Dean did not dignify the comment with a reply or even a glance at Jo as she left the room.  He shook his head after she was gone, he had no doubts about Ari, plain and simple.

    Sam saw Jo as she came from the study, he could tell she was upset.
“Hey what’s going on?”
She tried to smile as she faced him.
“Nothing just a chat with Dean, you know how those can go,” she said.
“Yeah, hey let me take you and Amber out to lunch.”
Sam gave her a quick hug before she went to get her purse and shoes. 
“Hey Dean, Jo and I are taking Amber to eat do you want to go?” Sam asked as she put his head in the door. 
“No, have fun we will do the cake thing later tonight,” Dean said without looking up.
He had finally been able to trace the dead realtor in Chicago back to the town where they had met Ari.  He was glad to put that mystery to rest.  No more hellhounds. Since he had helped Ari with the journal entries that she had entered in the computer, he had begun to do research more often.  Though Sam was still the go to guy for anything that was needed on the spot, Dean had begun to catch up with his geeky brother. 

    Ari waved at Amber as they left for lunch, Sam had already asked her permission to take Amber. Ari grinned to herself, she though Sam and Jo looked good together despite her personal feelings for the girl.  She hoped that Jo truly liked Sam and did not have ulterior motives.  She bit her lip as she rinsed the cups in the sink before she went back upstairs.  She had done more cleaning as well as adding software to the desktop computer in the study, putting more books on the shelves, filling the kitchen cabinets with dishes, and little maintenance things like vacuuming.
 
    Upstairs she washed her hands and repaired the little make up she wore before she went to see Dean.  She found him with his feet up on the desk as he leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed.  She smiled to herself as she tiptoed into the room before she sat in front of him across the desk from him.  He must have dozed off because she was there a full five minutes before he opened his eyes.  When he did, she grinned at him.
“Hey sleepyhead?” she teased him.
He motioned for her to come around to sit in his lap.  She smiled as she put her arms around his neck.  He pushed his hands up her tee shirt to rub her stomach as he kissed her.  Neither of them heard Chet as he cleared his throat the first time.  He cleared it a second time before he got their attention.
“Sorry to interrupt, Sam is on the landline for you, Dean.”
“Thanks,” Dean said as he picked up the phone.
“Hey Sammy…,” he began.
“Dean is Ari with you?”
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
“We are at the hospital, Amber had to have her stomach pumped.”
“What?”
“She will be alright but you two should come, okay.”
“What happened?”
“She had a reaction to something she ate, Dean just come.”
“Okay we are on the way.”
Sam didn’t tell Dean Amber had also had a reaction to the painkiller.  He just needed them to get to the hospital so the doctors could talk to them. 

    When they arrived at the hospital, the spoke with the attending physician before they went into to see Amber who was awake.  She looked weak but she smiled when she saw Dean and her mother.
“Hey munchkin,” Dean said as he smiled at the little girl.
Her hair was wild on the pillows and she looked beautiful like her mother.
“You okay?’ Ari asked as she sat in the bedside chair.
Amber nodded.
“I itch Mommy.”
“Yeah, they will put something on you to make it better.”
Dean looked at Ari with a question in his eyes.
“She is allergic to some pain killers, a good thing this one only gave her a rash.”
“Oh okay, we should get her an alert tag with that on it,” Dean said.
“A good idea.”
“Sammy was sad,” Amber said with a worried expression on her face.
“He is fine now that you are okay.”
“Can I go home?”
“No, but we are staying here with you tonight okay.”

    Dean went out in the hall to talk to Sam and Jo.
“What happened?”
“We were laughing and talking and I noticed she looked a bit sick.  I had no idea she food allergies.  No one said anything.  We called nine one one then the ambulance brought her here.  The paramedic could tell right away it was something she ate that made her sick.”
Dean shook his head as an indication for Sam to continue, but Jo took over.
“No one thought to tell us she had allergies,” Jo said incredulous.
“Oh,……. I think Ari thought Sam knew because I knew,”  Dean said with a sheepish look on his face.
“You never mentioned it to either of us.”
“You are right I’m sorry I should have said something since you spend so much time with her.   It is my fault…..Well what a wonderful birthday for a four year old huh?” Dean added sarcastically.
“Yeah, we need to make this up to her,” Sam said.
Sam remembered he hadn’t given Amber her gift yet as he went out to the Impala to get it out of the trunk. 

    He went into Amber’s room where Ari spoke quietly with her daughter.  Amber looked up with a smile for a friend.
“Hey Sammy, sorry for getting sick,” she said softly.
“It wasn’t your fault.  I have you gift here you want to unwrap it?”
She nodded as she bit her lip and took it from him.
“Thank you,” she said before she opened the pink wrapped box.
She shook it first with a grin on her face; Sam laughed.  Dean and Jo stood in the door as the watched the scene unfold before them.
“I do not want you to bad mouth Ari again, Jo.  What you said earlier was uncalled for and unappreciated,” Dean said out of the side of his mouth.
Jo was quiet, yeah its not like she was a hooker.

  Amber laughed aloud as she saw her little pink laptop with a Barbie label on it.  It was an educational toy but Sam knew she loved Barbie and enjoyed watching him on his computer. 
“Thanks Sammy and I want to name the puppy Sammy Doo kind of like Scooby Doo,” Amber said with a laugh.
Sam smile at her as he ruffled her hair.
“Sounds good, Amber I will see you later, okay.”


TBC