Dean raised his eyebrows as Lexi stated that she had decided to cook for the three of them, to give Sam a break.  He hadn’t noticed how much Sam had shouldered, while hew as off in his own drunk world, trying to ignore his problems, and cry them into a bottle of whiskey.  He made a mental note to make it up to Sam, himself.

He stepped over toward the fridge and pulled a bottle of water as she continued fixing the food, and spoke about his eating habits over the past few months.  Dean quietly wondered what else Sam had told her, and how much she actually knew about him, when he knew so little about her, “I think it looks great so far.  Pasta sticks to the ribs, and I smell bacon.”

It was then that Dean realized he was taking a drink of plain water.  Not beer or whiskey.  It was just water.  It was a tiny little glimmer of his old habits peeking through, but his body craved the water so much he had to keep himself from downing the bottle in one gulp.  He pulled the bottle down as Lexi apologized for their interaction earlier in the day, and he shook his head, his eyes widening, “if anyone was a dick, it was me.  I mean, I’m a little drunker now than I should be right before dinner, but I wasn’t exactly nice.  I don’t know how long you’ll wanna stay around here, though…”

He paused, and took another drink of water as he trailed his words off.  It was a subtle and polite way of running her off, before he had a chance to get used to her being around.  His mind wanted to be mean to her, and shoo her away, and then warn Sam with a fist against bringing girls back to the bunker that he could have a conversation with.  He didn’t want to have anyone.  He just wanted to be left alone to starve and wreck his liver.

As Lexi turned to the oven and pulled the pie out, sitting it on the counter, Dean’s eyebrows rose once again, “Wait.  You made me a pie?  You’re asking me to eat dinner with you, and you made me a pie?  A girl already after my heart.”

He chuckled, the knot of guilt in his stomach knotting a bit tighter, and his smile fell from his face after a few moments.  He nodded his head at her, and shrugged, “But yeah.  I’ll stay.  This was really cool of you.”