As the last of the shampoo fell from her hair, and she asked him to forgive himself, Dean sighed, “You know I can’t just do that.  I have to make things right, which…they feel pretty alright, right now.  I mean, this is the first time we have had time alone to enjoy…anything, when we weren’t fighting.”

He smirked at the fights they had started with each other while she was Kenos, and even before, when she was Mika.  He knew that fighting was just part of her personality, and possibly a part of her personality that was intensified by the attack and survival.

“I’ll try, if you’ll try…”, he finally whispered, running the sponge from her hair, down her back.  He gently washed her back off and assessing the extent of her fresher wounds, “But you have to try and forgive yourself for what you’ve done.  I’ll do my best to only hold a grudge when I’m really angry, and my words are out of my control…as you know.  And you’ll do your best to forgive yourself, and not lie anymore.”

As he finished the sentence, he winced at how it sounded at the end, but also knew that she wouldn’t take it too personally, considering how bad the night could have become.  He wrapped both his arms around her waist and pressed her against his chest, “I think you’re clean princess…”

He muttered the words playfully as he leaned back and rested his head on the back ledge of the bath, her against his chest and the world feeling a tiny bit safer, whether the people outside of this house realized it or not.