"Lacey," Dean says softly, nudging me awake. I slowly open my eyes to find Dean's turnout coat draped over me as a blanket.

"Did I fall asleep?" I ask yawning, and he chuckles.

Dean offers me a hand to help pull me up. "You did but it's fine. You didn't miss anything. We probably need to check on Boo."

I look over to see who else is here and Paige is asleep in a chair separate from everyone else. Hayes is asleep in his chair too and Sephine is on the phone with someone.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" I ask, standing up and fixing my hat.

He smiles and drapes his arm around my back, "No. You're exhausted and I'd feel better knowing that you slept in your own bed opposed to a stiff hospital chair. Plus I miss my dog."

I shake my head slowly, "He's my dog too. You make a solid argument, I miss my bed."

There's a cab waiting for us outside and I can't help but close my eyes again and lean onto Dean. "Thank you for being there. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to talk to Chase today."

"He knows," I mumble, thinking of the way he looked at us earlier.

"When did you talk to him?"

I don't really want to talk about this right now. I just want to sleep and be held. "He brought me to the hospital. Chase saw us. I didn't have to tell him, he knew."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow. I need to go to the station anyway to get my car and I'll stop by his apartment after. Jonah and the Chief are probably going to fire me, but I don't regret anything I did today."

This is enough to keep me from completely falling asleep, "Why would he fire you?"

Dean chuckles, causing my head to bounce slightly from where it rests on his shoulder. "I don't like to follow rules. It gets me in trouble quite a bit, but up until today the last time I broke a rule was when I saved you."

I lift my head up, looking at him through my sleep-laden eyes. "What rule did you break with me?"

"We're not supposed to take our mask off under any circumstances when we're on a scene. You couldn't breathe because of all the smoke so I took mine off. Lieutenant laid into me because he'd lost his best friend to a fire where he gave away his gas mask. But I don't regret it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"Who knew you'd turn into such a sap once we started kissing." I tease and Dean stares at me with those beautiful eyes and his charming smile.

He lowers his voice so that the driver can't hear, "I plan on doing a lot more than kissing you I hope you know. After I get that ridiculous hat off your head though."

I know my cheeks are flaming red right now because how else are you supposed to react to that. So I ignore the first part of what he said, "You don't like my hat?"

"No, I really do not like your hat. It hides over half your face."

When we get back to my apartment, I find Boo laying on the couch and the light in Cassidy's room is peeking through from under the door. "You should go talk to her. I need to let Boo out," I suggest and Dean nods.

"Will you be okay to take him out yourself?"

I roll my eyes, "What do you think I did by myself the week you avoided me. I'll be fine but Cass needs you right now, not me." Cassidy and I are friends, but I don't know her that well. She needed a place to stay and I needed a roommate after Quinn left because of Boo. Dean is her best friend and what she needs right now.

He kisses me briefly and I grab Boo's leash and a baggie to take him out front. I remember when I was looking for an apartment that finding one with an elevator was high on my parents list of requirements for me to move to the city. I don't think I took into account how nice it would be when my health decreased again.

Boo is pretty good on a leash, sticking right next to me instead of trying to sniff everything on the elevator. It's nice having the unwavering company. His ears stick straight up and his brown eyes just seem to stare right through me.

I scratch the spot right behind his ear that I know he loves and his tail thumps against the elevator wall. "Who's a good boy? You are! Boo's a good boy."

I'm such a sucker for dogs. Seeing Boo's face after the terrible way today went is the best way to end it. I wish I could keep him and give him his forever home, but he'd have to go back to the shelter in a month.

It's nice to have him for now though. I hope I can make his time with me special. It's been quite the whirlwind though with everyone going through breakups and being angry at other people.

We walk to the end of the block to give Dean and Cassidy time to talk, but I'm about to drop to the ground in exhaustion.

I'm so tired all the time and it's going to be noticeable pretty soon, but for now I can just pass it off as working too much and today for being a really long and terrible day.

Boo is right there with me. We're two peas in a pod except he's a six year old German Shepherd who needs a home and I'm a twenty-three, almost twenty-four year old woman that has an abundance of secrets. It'd be better if we were both dogs.

Boo races me to the bedroom and jumps on my bed, claiming the middle section. "Oh you suck. I hope you know that you're going to have to move because that's my bed." I grumble, pulling my pants off once I'm in the safety of my room. I don't even want to know the state my hair is in right now after taking off the hat I'd kept on all day.

My bed is welcoming and warm and I have no problem making Boo move so I can have a bigger section of it. I doze off for a bit before hearing the creak of the door opening.

"How is she?" I ask quietly, and Dean crawls into the bed next to me a minute later, maneuvering around Boo and slips his arms around me.

"She'll get there. Today was a lot for everyone but Cass will get there." He says, pressing his lips to the side of my head. "Boo takes up a lot of room."

I rest my head on Dean's chest, "He does. I don't have the heart to kick him out."

"Go back to sleep Lace."

His fingers are running up and down my back in a soothing manner and the sound of his heart beating strongly is comforting. "Keep doing what you're doing and I will," I mumble. And then a horrible horrible thought pops into my mind. "Dean?"

He grunts a short response, "Yes?"

"Will you still cook for me now that we're kissing?"

"What?"

I rest my chin on his chest, "You're a really good cook and I really like food so I hope you're still planning on cooking for me even though I can cook. Especially since my birthday is next week. I'd like to request that pasta you made a few weeks ago."

"Whatever you want. Just because we're kissing doesn't mean that things have to change," He says softly. I smile widely at him even though we're in the dark because that's the best thing he could have said. I use the last bit of energy I have to press my lips against his and then I rest my head against his chest again.

This isn't the first time Dean and I have fallen asleep like this, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. He's an incredible man and I don't know how so much can change in such a short span of time.

If I'd never come to New York, I never would have worked at that diner that was so horribly managed, and I would never have met Dean. It's incredible.

I'm happy with him.

Dean cares so much for other people and I hope I can care for him in the time I've got to make sure he knows it.

I fall asleep listening to the steady rhythm in his chest. It's music to me.

*********

"We're going to be fielding a lot of calls the next few days until Maddox is out of the hospital. I know I told you that you could have the next few days off, but I really need you here Lacey. If you're not feeling good then please don't feel like you need to explain." Grayson rambles, coming out of his office speaking very quickly as soon as I set my bag down at my desk.

I look at him in surprise not expecting him to have beaten me here. I'm half an hour earlier than I normally am and I beat him in almost every day. "Dude, take a breath. Whatever is going on can wait until I've set my stuff down."

He looks at me with wide eyes, "Did you just call me dude?" Then without waiting for a response he shakes his head, clearly already having had a cup or two of coffee. "No, you don't understand. With the takeover having just happened, the company is in a vulnerable state. Our job is to make sure that investors don't leave because the COO is in the hospital."

"So we need to prepare a press release that Maddox is fine and will be back in the office promptly."

"Exactly. This isn't stuff we would normally do for other clients, but it's Hayes. He needs the best we can do." He tries to explain and I shake my head.

"I know. It's okay. Don't worry about it," I smile at him and set the rest of the things in my hands down.

Grayson looks really relieved that's my answer and I know he's stressed. I don't even know how his Italy trip went. I haven't talked to him since last Thursday when they left. "Thank you. I appreciate it a lot Lacey."

We busy ourselves with getting everything sorted out, but its a stressful day. I can tell it didn't go much better for Dean when he shows up with dinner for Grayson and I. He's trying to keep an upbeat facial expression, but I've spent enough time with him to see through it.

"I hadn't heard from you since this morning so I guessed you were busy dealing with the aftermath of everything. I haven't missed days like this," Dean says, shaking his head. "I brought Chinese for you two after checking on Boo."

I smile gratefully at him, "Thank you."

"No problem. What are you working on?"

"Are you asking to be polite or because you actually want to know?" I retort and Dean flashes me a smile. Man he has a really nice smile.

"Polite. I don't-"

"Like being involved in the family business. I know. How did your meeting with Jonah and the Chief go today?"

He shrugs and shoves his hands into his pockets. "I've got a three week suspension. Guess I'll be bringing you food a lot more often."

"I'm sorry," I say softly because that would bother the shit out of me.

"It's not the first time I broke the rules. I deserve the suspension so don't tell me you're sorry. I did talk to Chase today and while he isn't mad, I wouldn't describe him as happy either. He just needs some time to cool off."

I nod slowly because that I could have expected. "I'm going to run Gray's food into him. I'll be right back."

When I go into Grayson's office, I'm not surprised to see him asleep at his desk. I don't think he's even taken a break today. With trying to do damage control for Hayes's company and then trying to handle Tessa's family company on the side, he's wearing himself thin. It doesn't help that I'm sure he's getting hit with jet lag.

I set the food on the corner of his desk and turn his light off so he can get some rest. He might get mad at me but Grayson needs it.

Dean is sitting in the chair at my desk, flipping through the papers I'd just been working on. Thats surprising since only a few minutes ago he said he didn't care to see. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to get to leave until late. Thank you for dinner."

"I'll stay and help. It doesn't do me any good if Grayson works you to death."

I force a laugh out, "Funny. Just to be clear, you volunteered, I didn't ask."

He smiles charmingly at me, "You didn't have to."

"I didn't ask at all!" I defend myself because I'm not making him stay and do something he doesn't want to do. "Don't think that just because you're helping me and smiling at me like that it means you're getting lucky."

The smile on his face tells me that's exactly what he thought would happen. Probably will still happen if I'm not too tired by the time we get back to my apartment or his. "Lace, I'm just joking. I want to stay because you're here. Linc is really pissed at me right now, and I don't feel like apologizing for kissing you because I don't regret it. I do regret telling Chase I didn't have feelings for you because I do."

I reach across from him to grab a different file, "You need to make things right with Linc. He's your roommate and take it from my experience that having problems with a roommate makes it miserable for both of you."

Dean looks at me with a puzzled expression, "So you want me to apologize to Linc for doing what makes me happy which is literally all you've told me to do since you met me?"

I shake my head, laughing, "No. I'm telling you to make things right with him. I didn't say apologize."

"How do suggest I do that?"

"Well I can't tell you all the answers. That's for you to figure out," I reply, unable to keep the smile off of my face. "Just a small hint, don't use too much energy trying to figure it out. You'll need it later," I taunt and the look on his face is entirely worth it.