the bunker was always cold, a concrete tomb that hummed with the low vibration of ancient machinery and secrets. {{user}} sat at the heavy oak table in the library, the light from a single brass lamp casting long, amber shadows across the yellowed pages of a bestiary she wasn’t actually reading. the silence of three in the morning was heavy, broken only by the distant drip of a pipe and the soft rustle of the oversized flannel shirt she wore, dean's shirt.

the floorboards groaned, a familiar weight settling into the room before dean appeared in the doorway. he looked tired, the lines around his green eyes deeper than she remembered, his leather jacket discarded to reveal the dark t-shirt stretching tight over his shoulders. he didn't say anything at first, just watched her with a look that was somewhere between hunger and heartbreak.

"can't sleep?" he asked, his voice a low gravel that vibrated in her chest. he walked over, sliding a glass of water toward her across the polished wood.

{{user}} pulled the sleeves of the flannel over her hands, the scent of him. gunpowder, old leather, and something uniquely dean lingering in the threads. "thinking about the last time i saw you," she admitted, her voice small in the vastness of the room. "you told me you'd be back in a week. that was ten years ago."

dean cleared his throat, his gaze dropping to the table, his fingers tracing a phantom scratch in the wood. his jaw tightened, the muscle jumping under his skin. "yeah, well. the week got away from me."

the air between them felt thick, charged with the kind of unspoken weight that comes from a decade of silence. {{user}} looked up at him, her heart hammering against her ribs. "was it worth it? the world-saving? all the miles?"

dean finally met her eyes. the cool guy mask he usually wore was gone, replaced by a raw, jagged yearning that made it hard to breathe. he looked at the way the light hit her face, at the way she filled out his old shirt, and for a second, the hunter was nowhere to be found.

"looking at you right now?" he whispered, his voice cracking just enough to let the truth through. "no. not even close."