Thank you, beloved! It's such a direct contrast to the Dean I'm having trouble writing in the other fic. Maybe I need to get stuff out before I can work on my other story. :)

As for Dean feeling resigned to not being good enough--I think he's a littler less that way now, I think. Lisa and Ben had a good influence on him, whether he wants to admit it or not. I like to think that he's seeing a possibility that his life means more than being Sam's brother.