Thank you so much for this story! I love how you worked in my prompt. Dean/Nancy is one of my favorite pairings ever, so I'm glad you picked it.

Also, thanks for literally giving me as long a story as you were allowed to. I really got my fill this year!

I loved the simple way Nancy survived, and how she hides in her mundane work.

She screams; and Nancy feels it, relief like a balloon bursting.

I liked this - Nancy's relieved she's not going crazy.

“Yeah,” Dean says. It’s quiet, punched out of him. “Yeah, I remember.”

I really like this description. And to think, for him this is something that happened 40 years ago.

Nancy squeezes her eyes shut and opens them again, then shakes her head firmly. She takes the knife.

Nice bit of foreshadowing.

I really like Nancy getting a glimpse behind the curtain with Dean, seeing how much he's really faking it.

Nancy shrugs. Truth be told, she's not sure what kind of girl she is these days.

:-(

I like how Nancy never lets men sleep with her after sex, and yet, she lets Dean sleep with her. (And I'm sure he's not sleeping very well after Hell, but he sleeps when he's next to her.) Even if this is just a one-night-stand, it means something to both of them.

I like how the cross gleams "coolly" in the beginning, and then just gleams at the end. It's no longer a symbol of an empty promise.