And because he was paying close attention to her, he thought he felt a change in her before he saw something different in her eyes when she looked at him. Maybe he had gone too far in trying to convince her he wasn't going to be the jerk in the equation. He was definitely not like all the pretty boys or nice guys or tools. Well, yeah, sometimes he was a tool. But it was usually to cover up the fact that he was a softy under it all. No one who killed monsters for a living could have it known he was really a softy. Didn't happen. Really didn't happen in the Winchester family.
He immediately regretted putting his arm around her shoulder and almost withdrew it when she'd teased him back. He looked sharply at her and his brow furrowed.
"Hey..." he said quietly, looking into her face searchingly.