Title: Overdue Declarations
Rating: T
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Dean
Prompt: firstline fiction comm. - "The only sound that she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her chest..."
Word Count: 1, 233
Summary: She expected him to say it, some day. She just didn't know that day was today.

Overdue Declarations

1/1

The only sound that she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her chest. She expected him to say it, some day. She never pushed for the words because while he never verbalized them, she could feel it. After all he'd been through, it was natural that he was emotionally cut off, that saying those kinds of things just weren't his style. After all they'd been through though, she knew him well enough to read it in his eyes or hear it in his laugh. She heard it behind his sarcastic remarks and his grunt of recognition when she said it to him. Sometime during the seventeen months they'd been together, she just got used to him not saying it and now that he had, she didn't know what to say back.

She'd been half way to sleep when he mumbled it against her hair. She could still feel him running his fingers up and down her bare back, so she knew he wasn't asleep yet. Sam had long ago passed out on the bed across the room. It wasn't safe to get separate rooms and so he put up with their "couple behavior," often going for walks when things got a little too intimate for him to comfortably stay in the room. Almost two years, she got in a little trouble involving a demon, a dead hunter, and her healing abilities. She hadn't had the time to explain it to Dean and Sam that she could come back and so with Dean alive and her officially dead, she was sent to the morgue and the brothers were left in a quandary. Until she resurrected and had to quickly explain to them her abilities before they riddled her body with rock salt and dug her a grave.

She didn't have the time or resources to get her death certificate revoked and she wasn't about to call up Oliver or Clark, not this time. She needed a break from the super hero business and then managed to get herself entangled with a couple of average-Joe demon-hunting heroes. Just her luck. And, of course, because fate likes to play with her like its ever dancing puppet on strings, she went and fell for the hunter that had so much emotional baggage they almost needed a second car. But he was also charming and protective and downright sexy. So she wasn't really complaining, especially on nights like this where despite the crappy motel surroundings, she was wrapped up in arms that would rather tear themselves off and beat their owner up than let her get hurt. She was used to heroics; grew up around them with Clark Kent and then Oliver Queen and his League of superheroes. But Dean and Sam weren't like them and she found it refreshing.

Until she was being used as bait by demons and cleaning Dean's wounds with antiseptic while he grunted and groaned over how she was purposely hurting him. They pretended like there was no attraction between them the first few months. He tried to get on her nerves as much as possible and she let him. But then they were on a hunt, searching for a lost and likely very hurt Sam, and stuck alone with a whole lot of fear and pent up emotion, they just sort of let their guard down. And when the demon holding Sam captive was officially dead and they were home-free once again, Dean hauled her up against his chest and kissed the breath right out of her. Their first time together probably would've been on the dusty warehouse floor if Sam hadn't cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him as he stood tied to a pole and glaring at them in irritation.

After that, it was just history. She was part of the team and officially Dean's girl, which meant putting up with a lot of his lesser quirks. Like how he was completely unable to express feelings until forced; which took weeks of prodding that only Sam was really good at. And so she accepted that he wouldn't say it for awhile, or possibly ever and instead soothed that pain with how easily she could say the words. It took her a number of months before she realized that her feelings had become so strong toward the arrogant and damaged hunter, but when she felt them, she told him. And he'd been stunned, probably like how she was now. Had sputtered something that made no sense and then asked if she wanted anything to eat. He left and didn't come back for three hours, but at least he brought dinner. He got used to it after awhile and was obviously grateful that she wasn't telling him to say it back.

And now he was. Those three words that she told herself she didn't need to hear, he said them. Soft and tender and honest, a little deeper, in a voice that he only used when he was saying something that cut right to the heart and opened up wounds he didn't like admitting to having.

She snuggled up closer, brushing off her shock in favor of appreciation and kissed his chest, right over his tattoo, nuzzling her nose against him. "I love you too," she murmured. She skimmed her hand over his back as her arm sat low over his waist and felt it tense beneath her fingertips. And then he was pressing into her until she was flat on her back, staring up at him as he looked down at her with those intense eyes of his. He brushed her hair from her cheek, hooked it around her ear and then bent his head, keeping his eyes open and on hers as he slanted his mouth across hers. His hot tongue swept across the seam of her lips, which parted automatically, granting him entrance. She felt him sigh before he was kissing her slowly, passionately, drawing her entire body into that one embrace of lips and tongue and teeth. She felt it well up inside of her; fluttering in her stomach, curling her toes, making her skin tingle with awareness.

He loved her. She smiled against his mouth, her hand raising to tangle in his hair, sliding down the back of his neck, drawing him closer, despite their being no more room to occupy. She felt his body slide across hers, fitting perfectly between the part of her legs, cradled there as if they were made to hold him. And now her heartbeat invaded her ears not out of shock but out of arousal. The simplest of kisses, the feel of his hot, hard body against her own, it was all it took. But then his hands were cupping her breasts, massaging them, thumbs flicking against her nipples, and his hips were grounding into her, his hard length brushing against her entrance, a heat pooling there quickly. And she knew that his declaration was far from over, because he was going to make sure she knew how much he meant it, with all of himself.

There were worse people to love in the world than Dean Winchester and Chloe Sullivan was beyond happy that she just so happened to fall for the hunter, because she had a feeling they had a very long relationship ahead of them, one filled with many more 'I love you's.'

Author's Note: Hope you liked this. I'm in a hurry! Reviews are sustenance, readers! Luv yas - Fina!