and then there were plans

who: lullaby and dean (with Andy)
where: the house they're staying at
when: after school

Lullaby was feeling extreme levels of Not Good. She'd been on skype with Andy for a while now, and he kept guilting her into staying on with him, even if she'd tried to give excuses to go a few times. But no. He hadn't let her go, and she wasn't rude enough to just shut the computer off on him. She'd considered it. She really had. Shut it off and claim power failure, or internet failure or something. She'd thought dealing with the Dean situation over there was going to be hard--no. That was nothing compared to the Andy situation.

He was persistent, and she had to wonder just how many girls he'd gotten to do things they didn't especially want to, just by being an unrelenting bastard. He was manipulative, that she could really see. It became more and more clear to her every time she was contacted by him. It was in the way he kind of sold himself up in subtle ways, while downplaying Dean when he had opportunity. Which she knew was designed to make her find Andy more attractive or enticing, but really just got her back up. So, she'd defend Dean, and then they'd dissolve into what she was sure he considered witty banter.

She tried. She really tried to just blow things off, and ignore his increasingly less subtle hits on her. She tried to like him, and not think he was an asshole. She tried to tell herself she was just taking things personally because she was far too overprotective of Dean, and maybe Andy didn't mean it anyways.

But he was difficult for her to take, and she knew more and more what he wanted out of her when she arrived in England, and that was something she was just flat out not going to be giving him. "Andy--you're really sweet" In that totally not at all in any way shape or form manner "and I appreciate the compliments and everything, but...I'm not--I mean, that is, I'm...er..." What could she say? She didn't have a valid excuse. Other than she had taste, and standards, and she thought he was probably a fucking asshole.

The on-screen Andy rolled his eyes and grinned "Aww, Thia - don't be like that. Giving the brush off to a guy you haven't even met. Come on, gimme a chance, in the flesh, y'know - you'll be here, I'll be here - there's some great places to go... You'll love them, I know you will and we'll just see how things go from there," he told her, his tone suggesting that she was such a nice girl she wouldn't deny him that, would she?

And, unfortunately, at least in Lullaby-brain--she wasn't the kind of girl who'd just flat out tell him no. She still didn't want things to be weird, and the very last thing she wanted was any stress to be going on for Dean. Which meant...putting up with Andy, she guessed. Making it so that there wasn't anything he needed to be thinking about. "I'm sure there are cool places to go, and that you know them all well." she said. Which was less an answer and more an observation, or a guess, but she was hoping that he took it as an proper answer.

Andy did, in fact, take that as a proper answer. "Exactly, so I'll show you round - Dean'll be spending time with his family anyway, so I'd be happy to take you off his hands..." he grinned, determined to do just that, for no other reason than he could.

Hadn't she just been thinking that Dean would be doing that? So it would help her out with the whole 'hey no seriously now, getting over him' thing? She had. She'd been figuring that she'd kind of hang back, he'd be doing his thing, and now she was faced with the possibility that she was going to be left to Andy's devices. Great. That wasn't what she wanted. Could she do it? She eyed Andy, and tried to figure out if she could just...kinda maybe sorta do whatever, smile and nod, go through the motions... But she didn't think she was that good an actress. But then again, at the same time, he still seemed to be utterly freaking oblivious to the fact that she was not, in fact, panting to be spending inordinate amounts of time with him. "Yeah, I'm sure Dean'll be spending some time with his family--but he wants to spend time with you guys too!" she said, hoping that that included Dean in on whatever plans Andy had in his head.

"Well, that's fine - we can spent some time with Dean as well, of course," Andy told her, magnanimously, already moving on and talking as if this was a done deal and she was his for the duration now - it was a technique that had worked for him many times in the past, though he had to admit that this was harder over a camera link than in person. He'd have her in the sack already if she was here, he knew it.

"Wait..." Lullaby said, catching what he'd done there. They could spend some time with Dean? What, he was claiming her for the whole trip and telling her what she was allowed to do with her time now? Yeah that wasn't going to fly. She gave herself a second so she didn't snap at him, because snapping at him would just be bad, and cause problems... "You realize that I'm going to be spending most of my time with Dean...right?" she asked. "You kinda sound like you expect me to be with you the whole time." Which was exactly what she thought he figured, and was in fact, angling for. He wanted her to be his little american fling that he bedded when she was only in town for a little while. A story to tell the guys. She wasn't up for that.

Dean had come straight home from school as promised, so that they could go to the orphanage and get things done. He had heard her talking to someone as he approached the bedroom, so he had slowed and quietly slipped into the room, so as not to disturb her. That had worked - she'd not even noticed that he was there as he watched the conversation between her and Andy with a slight frown on his face, though he didn't interrupt.

"Thia - I wouldn't want to tear you away from the bloke if you didn't want it," Andy told her, his tone suggesting heavily that she would, in fact, want it. "But I'm sure Dean would spare you - he would want you to have a good time, after all..." from the positioning of the camera, Andy wasn't aware that the guy in question was now in the room, able to hear every word he said, though, really, it wouldn't much have changed things even if he'd known that - though Andy probably would have changed his tack slightly to corner Dean into agreeing with him. His friend was so nicely malleable like that.

Yes, he would want me to have a good time, and my definition of that doesn't really include fucking off with you the whole time. Lullaby thought to herself, fidgeting a bit in her chair, twisting the ring around her finger. "I'm sure I'll have a good time," she started, not implying that it would be with him. "And I still plan to spend most of my time with Dean...he's promised to show me a lot of places and the like. And I know we'd said before when we spoke that we'd go together with your other friends..." she said, fishing at this point for any way to deflect the situation from them spending time alone. But he had said that! Way back when he'd been talking to the both of them. Yep. Time spent with other friends. Sure thing. Groups of people. It was safer. Hopefully. Though she wouldn't put it past Andy to go out with a bunch of people and yet single her out and try to get her to go off someplace alone with him...

Andy waved it off. "Sure, of course. But, come on, Thia - you know I like you. You're cute, and sweet and special - I don't think I've ever talked to a girl quite like you before. I've been hoping that... I've wanted to meet you for so long now and when Dean told me that you were both coming home... You must know how I feel about you. I've made it obvious and I know we'll be great together..." he told her, putting on an entirely earnest tone and expression, oblivious to the stoney-faced Dean in the back who could see it happening again. He always lost girls to Andy. Always - except, here, now - looking at it, he knew Thia wasn't interested. He could see that, from her posture, her replies. Andy just didn't seem to be getting it at all though and Dean was waiting for Thia just to bluntly tell him to leave her alone, though, at the same time, he couldn't actually imagine her doing that. Anyway, getting that through to Andy he knew was almost impossible. Andy wouldn't take it - he'd never believe that a girl he was interested in didn't return his affections.

Christ, and now he was pulling this. The compliments, the lines...which she knew were lines. Because please the 'I've never talked to a girl like you before' thing, the 'you're special' bit...whatever. Liiine. And he was trying to guilt her into things. Not to mention she caught how he's put things. 'we'll be great together' as opposed to 'we would be'. Like he was already banking on everything. Yeah, she was definitely wondering just how many girls he'd suckered in this way. That and he was putting everything on himself, like she'd be the bitch if she hurt his feelings, because of how he felt about her. Gah. "Andy..." Lullaby started, sighing heavily and she dragged her fingers through her hair, not even sure what she was going to say. "I know, you've been pretty clear with how you feel and everything, it's just--" She didn't know what it was just. It was just that she thought he was a total tool, and she didn't really even want to be talking to him? She didn't like how he made her feel pressured and guilty, and that was without the twitches that his utter cockyness gave her? To say the entirety of Andy was off-putting to her would be putting it mildly.

Dean watched her, playing this out in his mind. She'd never come out and say it and even if she did, Andy would never take it. And he could see it, he could see how this was going to go - she'd spend the entire trip running and hiding from Andy. Or he'd corner her and... But, she wasn't that kind of girl, so... No, that wouldn't happen, but it'd all be a mess and... And he was walking forward without actually thinking any further about it. There was always part of his brain that seemed to switch off when he decided that Something Needed To Be Done. He walked past her and reached for the camera, angling it away from Thia and pointing it towards himself. "...It's just that she's dating me at the moment, so, sorry mate - she's taken," he told his friend, raising an eyebrow and smiling a little as he didn't dare for a moment look at Thia doing this. It seemed the neatest answer - he'd just have to deal with the fallout later.

She caught the movement out of her eye a second before Dean was moving the camera, and she jumped a little, looking around at him, wide eyed. Which didn't go away when she heard what he said there. Because---wait, what? Had she actually caught that right? Had Dean actually told Andy that they were together? She glanced at the screen for a moment more to gauge Andy's reaction to see if she'd managed to catch that correctly...because seriously....

That actually surprised Andy - both because of the sudden appearance of his friend and the news. Which - okay, well... He hadn't expected that one. "Really, since when?" he asked, after a long pause. "You never mentioned this before..."

"Since the weekend," Dean told him, thinking quickly. "And we haven't exactly talked since then, have we?" he pointed out. "I was going to tell people when we got there, but," he shrugged at the camera and dared a glance over at Thia, hoping that she wasn't going to be looking at him with a face full of thunder.

She wasn't. She was staring at him, most certainly, but she wasn't upset. Relieved might have been a better term. Because...well, that solved a lot of issues, now didn't it? It meant that she'd have a valid excuse to be spending all of her time with Dean, and maybe Andy would back off. And if he didn't, she could definitely hide behind the 'I have a boyfriend' thing. ...that part might be hugely difficult for her to deal with, considering if they were pretending to be dating, then...they'd have to pretend they were dating, and she had enough trouble dealing with her urges towards the boy, but she'd take that over having to spend days on end trying to give Andy the brushoff in new and creative ways when he didn't seem to be getting even the most obvious of hints. She mouthed the words 'thank you' to him. What had he said to her that morning? That she was always healing him? Well, he was always rescuing her, now wasn't he?

Dean started to relax a little as he caught the words and Andy continued to talk in the background, something about congratulations, though he didn't sound entirely happy about it. That wasn't surprising, all things considered, and he did feel a little bad about lying to the guy, but in the scheme of things, he had decided it was for the best. "Look, Andy - we've got things to do before we leave, so - see you in a couple of days, okay?" Dean suggested, deciding that it was probably best to end this conversation as quickly as possible here. He set the camera back down on the desk and moved so that he was squatting down next to Thia, both of them in the picture now.

Lullaby leaned on the armrest closest to Dean, and gave Andy an apologetic sort of smile. "He'd wanted to tell everyone, I didn't want to ruin the surprise." she explained, figuring that was the best answer she could give for having totally missed out on this whole supposedly having a boyfriend thing. "But yeah...stuff to do and everything, so....see you when we get there!" she said, waving a little, and reaching to cut the conversation off, though she waited til Andy had a chance to say his goodbyes and all before she did so. She still had that urge not to be rude.

Dean turned to her the moment that the feed had stopped, his expression turning a little worried. Okay, so she hadn't freaked, but - had he really just done that? Had he really just... What had he done there? What was this? Them, thing? Because, she'd looked grateful and said thank you and everything and she was playing along. But wasn't that just it - there was playing there. And - and he didn't know. He'd kind of been hoping that, once they got there, then, well, this, but more real and less pretence and now - now he didn't know. "He doesn't take no for an answer..." he said, in the end, figuring that he needed to say something.

"I know, I've been trying just about every way to say no to him for a while now, without actually coming out and saying 'Hey Andy, I get it that you like me, but I am stunningly uninterested so please, please please back off now'." she said, sighing as she slouched, relaxing back against the chair as she looked at him. "I didn't want to be rude to your friend. And I didn't wanna say anything, because he's your friend, but...thank you. Seriously. I mean...if you don't want...I mean--" she didn't know what to say now.

Dean looked at her, surprise replacing worry. "Don't want? Thia - I - I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't want..." he told her, meaning that on so many different levels, but not actually pushing that at all in any way right now. He'd just saved her from feeling backed into a corner with one guy, he didn't want to just turn that right around back on her now with him.

"If you don't want to actually go through with it or anything, we could say we had a big fight or something and broke up and that might give him the excuse...like I'm all damaged now or something?" she suggested, even if she didn't sound like she thought that was a good option. She just didn't want him doing something that he didn't want to do, just because she was a damsel in distress right now. And she decided to share that. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do something you don't want to." she said. "Cuz...um...pretending to be dating?" she quirked a very shy little half smile that was very hesitant. "Um. That...and I mean some stuff is kinda just natural anyways with us but...er...and I mean...and..."

"Are you saying you'd prefer not to do this?" Dean asked her, ignoring his internal flail and huge amounts of repeated 'no's at the idea of telling everyone they'd 'split up'. God - shit, if that's what she wanted to do. Shit, fuck - what had he done? Because, well - he actually wanted to ask her out properly at some point and, if she didn't want to do this, if she wanted to get out and... God, he'd be dead in the water before he'd even had a chance. That was it, he would have blown it. Fuck.

"No!" Lullaby said immediately--then wondered if she'd said that too quick. She was an idiot. "No, that's not--I just--" she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and tried to regain coherency. "Sorry. No. That's not what I meant. I just don't want you to be in some crappy position or something because you're nice enough to bail me out of another one." she said, looking down for a moment, twisting the ring around to where it should be again, before she looked back up at him through her eyelashes.

"I.... Don't think it'd be such a crappy position," Dean told her, almost reluctantly. Maybe it would help, he didn't know. Probably not, but at least he wouldn't have to watch himself so much. He just knew that he definitely didn't want to fake a break up. "And, I mean..." God, could he just not say this next bit and keep her to himself forever more? No, that wouldn't fly, because he was him and he couldn't do it. "If, like, you meet someone over there or something, or you changed your mind, I'd do the breakup thing, but I just thought..." No, you didn't think. you never think in things like this. You just act.

Yeah, that'll happen. I'm far too preoccupied with you. Lullaby thought. But yeah, wild horses couldn't drag that out of her. "I'm fairly positive that I wouldn't randomly become interested in someone while we were there. It kinda...takes a little bit to get my attention in the first place? And that'd just be weird. I'm not...I'm not a fling sort of girl." she said. She wasn't. Short-term whimsy relationships weren't her thing. If she was going to be with someone, she was with them. And you're not with him! Remember that. she reminded herself. But then again, the principal held. If she was only going to be in the country for a short time, why would she strike up a relationship with anyone? That was, of course, assuming that she managed to think around Dean for five minutes.

He smiled a little at that, before he caught himself and dropped it. "Okay, well, yeah - just... putting that out there. But... yeah. I - I'm not either. So, y'know, it'd be fine and everything and it'd get Andy off your back and, well, yeah..."

"Well...same would go for you though..." she said. "If you met someone, or...y'know...with..and...yeah." Weird, how he was actually doing better with full sentences today than she was. Generally if one of them was tripping all over wording, it was him. "If you met someone, then I wouldn't want to stand in your way. I'd still be devastated." she said. Then recognized her wording there and sat up a little straighter. "To everyone! I'd just be...y'know, and they'd think, and...right. You know what I mean."

Dean gave her a look - she didnt usually fall over her own words that badly. "Thi - I just said that I'm not looking for-" anyone else but you. Though he knew he had been, maybe not actively, anymore, after the nightmare that was Janice, but he had been keeping an eye out, keeping an open mind. But then again, he'd also lately been getting the idea that maybe there might one day be something here. If he didn't entirely fuck it up in the meantime. "Anyway, you keep telling me English girls are idiots," he teased, giving her a little smile.

The smile was nice to see, and served to relax her a little bit more. "Well, yeah. They weren't dating you." she said, reaching out to muss his hair a little bit. "So they could try to remedy that. But I suppose you'll be all y'know. Taken." By her. Wait, was this just a stunningly bad idea? How was she going to deal with this? If they were pretending to be dating, were there going to be kisses? Because she wanted to know that right away. Because...well shit. This could be very very bad. If he did kiss her, she knew she'd just kiss him back like she wanted to, and then he'd just Know. Shit, shit, shit. And yet she didn't bring it up because part of her wanted to get to do that at least once in her life.

"Well, we'll just have to play it by ear, won't we?" Dean told her, scowling a little as she mused at his hair, though playfully. He didn't really mind, and anyway, the shorter hair didn't muss as easily as it had when it was long and would end up all over the place.

She tried to hide a little stab of irrational disappointment, and managed it. Play it by ear. Like he was just kind of looking for some girl to show up and rock his world or something. And if he did find a girl there, would he want to stay? Like for the duration? She didn't think she could manage that, even if she'd told him before she would. She didn't figure his parents would be too happy with having an extra girl around. She gave him a little half smile, though. "Yeah, guess we will. Just--remember, whatever you want, just...y'know. Lemme know." she told him. And internally she was thinking about how that could in fact, include things he might want from her. Not that he did want anything from her. But in fantasy land, he did.

"Same here, for you," he told her, hating that idea. He knew that it'd be hard, if she met someone. God, even if she was approached - was he going to be turning all overprotective boyfriend on her? he - he needed to watch that, because he knew she'd hated it on Joshua. So - it was strange, something that he thought he might have been able to get away with as a friend, probably wouldn't fly as a boyfriend. There was going to be a whole new set of rules here for him to work out to make sure he did this properly. "And i guess I have something extra to tell my parents now," he added, realising that.

She opened her mouth for a moment, asking why, but then shut it again as she figured if they were going to be telling people--then it probably had to be across the board. Ohhh dear. And yet she kinda sorta maybe just a tiny bit liked the idea of being introduced to his parents like that. The First Girlfriend. or, well...the first they were getting to meet and everything. She smiled a bit. "Think that'll make them more likely to accept me?" she asked.

"They'll love you," he reassured her. Maybe it would help - he didn't know. It wasn't like he had to fake his feelings for her or anything, maybe he could use that to his advantage. "Don't worry about it. And ignore Scott - if he says anything. He's an idiot." That was going to be the fun part - the part where he needed to dodge the 'finally dating' question that would clue her into the fact he'd liked her for months now. "Y'know - I get a lot of the 'oh, your friend's a girl, really...' stuff, so, yeah. Y'know," he said, hoping that would be a cover-all excuse.

That was something she actually understood, so she perked up at that and laughed. "Oh that? Yeah I used to get that all the time from people about Journey." she said. "People would have massive trouble believing that we weren't going out, or hadn't messed around or whatever, but we never did." she continued. Of course, that totally wasn't the same thing here with Dean. Because she wanted those things. Yep. This was going to be trying. "So, don't worry. If there's commentary like that, I'll just deal with it accordingly."

"Okay - and, I'll deal with Andy. I know he can be a bit full on and everything, but - he's a nice guy," Dean assured her. "I've known him since he was a kid, he's just - yeah. He can be a bit of an idiot when it comes to girls sometimes. Kind of a bit too self-aware, y'know? And, well, can't blame him if he fancies you..."

Did he just say that? Lullaby thought. Because that...was a very non-dean statement. Really now. He just...nope. Didn't say things like that! Maybe she misheard him. Or...something. Or he was just being nice. Whatever she had no idea but she blushed a faint bit. "I don't think it actually has anything to do with me." she said. "I think it's kinda more the...y'know. Chick from America coming to visit...maybe it's just like...exciting or something." she suggested. And what did you mean by that? Did you mean that you could understand personally why he'd like me? Because that's what it sounded like. Only you wouldn't say that because I'm pretty sure that would never have occurred to you in a million years.

Dean opened his mouth to object that that made Andy sound really shallow, but he stopped himself because, well, he couldn't deny that Andy was, generally, kind of shallow when it came to this type of thing. And he was really glad that Thia hadn't fallen for it - not only for the obvious reasons, but because he really didn't want, as her best friend, to have to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. "Maybe," he agreed, at last. "I'm sure he'll find a replacement though, since you're not an option anymore..." Should he have said that? It didn't sound nice about Andy, after all. And, well, it made her sound like nothing special - which wasn't his opinion at all, just his view of Andy's opinion.

She didn't take offense to the wording, mostly because she was really hoping that was the case. That he just sort of recognized that she wasn't playing, and he'd go find himself someone else to bother. She was sure he could find an interested party no problem. "A girl can hope? I don't mind talking to him and everything, he can be really funny sometimes and everything, and who doesn't like hearing good stuff about themselves?" Well, Dean didn't, but still. "But still. I'm not...not interested. At all. I know he's your friend and everything but yeah. He's...I've known guys like him before, I guess. Probably great guy-friends and everything but not quite so awesome if you're a girl." What with the general attitude of expendability that they tended to have.

"You know, you don't have to like my friends just because they're my friends, Thia," Dean told her, sitting back down on the floor and looking up at her. "There's no rule there, so, y'know... Just saying," he told her, running a hand up into his hair and looking at her sideways.

She turned the chair slightly towards him, so she could sit indian style on the seat and look comfortably down at him. She leaned closer too, arms resting down on her crossed legs. "Yeah, but they're your friends." she said. "Obviously they've got good qualities. They have to, or you wouldn't like them." she said, using logic on that. Even if she was in the back of her mind twitching because she'd seen evidence that Andy wasn't so nice to Dean all the time. She'd just have to sit on that, and hope she didn't get the urge to give Andy a good sharp kick to the shins when they were there.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean that you have to - I mean, you have different opinions and everything and I just - I don't want you to think that you have to think something just because I do. I mean, come on, look at the evidence, Thia - I screw up, I get things wrong, I just - you shouldn't just take my word for things over your own and... Yeah." He thought about that - had that actually made any sense at all? He wasn't sure. he knew he was feeling slightly more together today than he had yesterday, but still, he also knew there was a whole lot of ignoring of issues going on to keep him functioning as well. And a denial of sense at times.

She looked at him for a long moment, then leaned a little farther over him. "Dean." she said. "Have you ever known me to be someone who adopts other people's opinions as her own?" she asked. "I'm just going to give everyone a chance. Yeah, I've been talking to Andy, and yeah he rubs me the wrong way. But people don't always translate very well over the internet. So, I'll meet him, then figure out my opinion." she said rationally. "So...don't worry. I'll continue to think for myself and everything, but I appreciate you letting me know that you aren't going to feel like...I dunno. You have to take a side should I not like someone."

Dean dropped his head into a hand, resting his forehead on the ends of his fingers as he looked up at her through them. "Sorry - sorry, I just. Yeah, ignore me. Are we going to the orphanage?" he asked her, changing the subject completely.

Lullaby took a moment to try and read him. There were lines...just...probably the least clear set of them she'd ever seen on Dean. Generally speaking, if he was upset, they were straightforward. He had Sophie-lines, or he just output an explosion of blackness. Right now there were all sorts of different kinds of lines going on, and they all seemed muddled together. So...unhelpful, really. "Don't be sorry." she said. "And...yeah. We're going to the orphanage. I was looking around for a box or something to put your gun in, and maybe a couple extra clips. Something I could just grab and leave with real quicklike, y'know?" she said. That and she didn't want the corrosion of the place compromising it. She had no idea how it might happen, but she didn't want anything wrong with his firearm if they needed it. That would just be Bad.

Right, that - that would make sense and it helped for him to have something that was disconnected from everything else and rather more objective to think about. "What about one of the first aid kit bags?" Dean suggested. "We could pick one up from the other house - there's some smaller ones there and if we left the stuff in, then we'd have all that as well, if we needed it," he added. Which, unfortunately, might be useful.

"Good idea." Lullaby agreed, thinking that was probably the most practical thing ever. A first aid kit with a gun and extra clips. Yep. Exactly what they might need. God that was messed up. How weird were their lives? But then again, she remembered lying in this room getting her leg stitched up. She remembered Dean reaching up and removing her hearing aids, so she didn't have to hear him scream. So--perspective. "That...did you get some little mirrors on the way home?" she asked. They could set everything up. "And we can try out that thing...the bringing something over from the orphanage to see if it holds a charge. I mean...how long was I out last time?"

"Oh, right, yeah," Dean said, remembering and rooting round in his inner pocket, producing a small, palm-sized mirror and a slightly bigger one that had a handle attached, an old-style lady's hand mirror with a silver-coloured back to it. "I found these in a junk shop," he explained, passing them over. "And last time? I dunno - a few hours?" he suggested. He was never particularly good with time. Long enough that I was worried as hell?

Lullaby took the mirrors, though she was very careful not to turn them so she was reflected in them in the slightest. She did smile at the hand mirror though, turning it backwards so it was reflecting him as she appreciated the back of it. "Hey, I like this one." she said. It was also distinct enough that she would be able to call it up easily in her mind. "And okay, a few hours...like...a few like three? Or a few like eight?" she asked, putting the mirrors aside as she looked back at him again.

"Somewhere in between?" Dean suggested. "Call it five - you were out for a long time." He'd have to explain that to his parents as well. Oh, that was going to be fun, wasn't it? Hi, yeah, my girlfriend's appearing, but I'm probably going to have to spend the first few hours she's in your house shut up in the bedroom with her... Right. Yes. Hmm.

"You sure there isn't someplace kinda...um. Y'know...ripe with negative energy you can't summon me that's nearby your house?" she asked, after getting the five hour thing. She didn't want to be out for ages. She would rather just come over, recharge quicklike, and be able to deal with everything. Help him deal. She wasn't at all sure the orphanage bit thing would work. For all she knew she'd have to find something really crazy for that to work, something that had a charge of it's own.

Dean thought. Mostly, he lived in a really nice, kind of quiet, suburb. All the really bad stuff happened elsewhere. "I dunno - I mean, how far back can we go? Like - half a mile away there's a field where there was a major rebellion, but we're talking, god, maybe five hundred years ago? other than that - people sometimes get mugged under the railway bridge at the top of my road," he suggested. "But that's about as bad as it gets..."

"Honestly, I don't know." Lullaby said. "I'd have to see it, i think." Which totally didn't help them out. "Guess just use your best judgment?" she suggested. "It'll work out. And if I'm out for the count for a while...then I'm just really really sorry and I'll apologize profusely to your parents when I wake back up?"

"I'll warn them," he promised. "And maybe it won't be that bad? Maybe - but, we'll see about getting something from the orphanage or something, or... We'll figure it out. Or they'll just have to wait a while. Maybe if you got Sophie to drive you down to the orphanage to leave from as well?" he suggested.

She thought about it. The logistics of bringing a full length mirror into the orphanage so she could walk out that way, with her bags. "I won't burn much up overnight. But maybe. Either way, I'm hopping an ocean. I'm kind of going to assume the worst and figure it'll take a huge toll on me. Better figure for that, and if that doesn't happen, then excellently cool, totally awesome and everyone's happy." In theory. But now she had to wonder how his parents would react to not only the whole her not being dead thing, but the her supposedly dating their son thing...annnd she was now nervous as hell just thinking about it.

"Okay, well, we'll just work it out. We can wing it - right?" he suggested, giving her a little smile. "But, yeah - and, I'm going to be leaving here really early tomorrow morning. Erm - did you, that is - you don't have to come to the airport if you'd be better off getting rest..."

She looked down at him, really sad looking for a moment. "It's not that I'd need the rest..." she said. "It's that the airport isn't that far out of Marquette. I could get seen really, really easy." she mumbled, really hating that. Because she wanted to see him off. She really did. In fact, the idea of not seeing him off seemed like such a bad one. She'd want to fuss, and make sure he had everything, and spend time with him right up until he boarded and everything, but...yeah. There weren't any other airports around, so anyone else in Marquette leaving for wherever was going to be there. It was far too much of a risk.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah, sorry - I..." Should have fucking thought about that. After everything, after the last few days. You know this shit, Conway - or you do now. You've slipped up before, that's what started this whole fucking thing, you need to get with it before you do anything else fucking stupid!

"Don't be sorry." she said right away, and she actually reached out for him while he had his eyes shut there--but she stopped herself. No, she wasn't allowed to reach out and touch him. She wasn't allowed to slide down off of the chair and snuggle him. She wasn't allowed to kiss his cheek, or anywhere else, and tell him she wanted to see him off, and that she'd miss him when he was gone. That was all..pretty lame, really. And weird. Possibly creepy. "You'll wake me up to say goodbye before you go though...right?"

He opened his eyes again and looked up at her. "Yeah, course I will," he told her, though his tone was muted. He needed to learn, he really did. He needed to learn and he needed to learn to cope, because right now he knew he was getting through the day by ignoring the shit out of everything and that? that was dangerous - and this was a great example of that, with him fucking asking her to come to the fucking airport, like she could, when just going out disguised and at night had almost got them both bloody killed!

She looked down at him for a long moment, then she did slide down off of the chair to the floor with him, and she moved closer, to hug her arms around his shoulders. "Good." she told him, even if she wanted to ask what was wrong. It was kinda obvious, so the question would be a little on the stupid side. "I'll miss you while you're gone." she told him, voice soft. So maybe he'd think it was weird, but...whatever. She was less inclined right then to worry about it, when he looked so sad, and she could see the lines spike up again too.

He shifted, dropping his knees and pulling her up onto his lap before burying his head in her shoulder, wrapping her arms around her. He was stupid. Stupid, stupid stupid and it was all going to go wrong, everything was going to go wrong and he didn't even know what 'everything' was. He just felt like he didn't in any way have a handle on things any more.

When he did that, she was surprised. She shifted, putting her arm up around his neck though the other she kept more towards his shoulder so she didn't make him alter his own position, he could keep nuzzled in as much as he wanted. Her fingers drifted into his hair, just a light little petting before it stopped, her hand still to the back of his head to hold him there. "It's okay, Dean." she said softly, not sure what was going on right now, just sure something was. But then again, with the way their last few days had gone, she really couldn't blame him for having tripups where things just crashed down. So...he could do that. And she'd be strong for him. "It'll all be okay."

No it's not, he thought to himself, but he couldn't even explain that. Even though he knew that she'd listen to him, she'd understand - he didn't even understand it himself. How everything seemed to be crashing right now, how everything he did seemed to make everything else worse, how nothing seemed to make sense anymore and he felt like he was lost in the middle of a maze of broken glass and didn't even know which way was up. So he didn't say anything, he just clung to her, his rock in this storm.

Lullaby kept hold of him, hugging him tightly as he clung to her. She closed her eyes, and turned her face in towards his head, giving him a small kiss on his hair there. She every so often would drift her fingers through his hair, and she rubbed his back a little bit, just trying to be there, and ride out whatever this was. She didn't ask him to explain himself right then--if he wanted to talk to her he'd be talking, but he wasn't. she understood sometimes how words didn't quite explain anything, how they were ineffectual.

He clung to her for five, maybe ten minutes before he loosened his grip, taking several long, deep breaths. Nothing had changed, of course, but he felt a little less like he couldn't cope - because he had to cope, didn't he? He had to do all of this, he had to continue on, he had to get it done. Until he left, but then he had things to do at home. Maybe, once all that was done, maybe everything could stop for a bit. That would be nice. Stopping. He drew back and looked at her, still not saying anything.

She looked at him, watching his eyes, arms sliding around his neck fully. One hand cupped the back of it, just kind of an unconscious gesture, something that kept him better held in some manner. "You okay for now?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper. Because she was well aware of the fact that he wasn't okay. Not really, not for a while. And he had every right not to be okay. To be fantastically bad, even.

It still took him a little while to answer, but he did answer her. "Yeah, I'm - yeah. I need to finish packing at some point as well. And - I talked to Rose at lunch. Told her we were going away. She wants to meet Maddie, but - yeah, I... I'm not going to - well, not right now. I don't think. So, yeah. No." he hoped she got his reasoning behind that, at least.

She tried to follow, but there were a few turnarounds in there. She smiled at him, a light little expression. Then she pressed a kiss to his forehead, and stopped herself from giving him more than that. She wanted to. Like right up by his eye, where the bruise had been. Then the place on his lip where the cut had been. From there, really, it dissolved into a soft sort of kiss, but that was in inappropriate fantasy land where she could calm him down and focus him with kisses. Which was not the world they lived in. Instead she rested her forehead against his for a second. "Everything'll get done." she promised. "Packing is easy, it won't take too long. And all the pressure is off because anything you forget I can just bring for you later. Don't worry about Rose right now, she's got Caleb to look after her. We just have a couple of errands to run, and then you'll be all set. Then, you can get some sleep, and get going tomorrow. It'll go fine with your parents, I believe in you and your ability to tell them what they need to know, to explain me to them. And then I'll be there, and it'll all be fine." she told him, because Dean always did better when he had a plan laid out for him.

He exhaled slowly and nodded against her head. Dean did, in fact, do better with a plan. He did better with focus, he needed it, he could cling onto it, it kept him together. "Right," he agreed, quietly. "Yeah, right. That's - yeah. Okay. I'm good," he told her, straightening up and back.

She smiled at him. She'd figured laying out steps for him would help a bit. And if she needed to add in more as they went, she would. But for now, she'd pretty much given him checkpoints until he called her from his parent's house, so that should be better than nothing. "Good." she said. "So...should we get going then?" she asked, moving to stand up, and she reached down to take his hands so she could tug him up with her. "Get stuff done...get back, so you can get some rest." She'd even do what she did before, if he needed her to. Sit in there with him until he fell asleep then leave. She could manage it.

He nodded and took her hands as he stood. "Right, yeah - let's go," he agreed, firming up those markers in his head. He'd just have to move from one to another to another. And watch crap movies in between. And hope nothing went wrong whilst he was in the air. "You'll leave your mobile on all day tomorrow, right? So I can text you," he checked.

She nodded. "Yes. You don't think I'm going to be doing much but watching it, waiting for messages from you, do you?" she asked. And just after she said it, she figured she shouldn't have. That it probably sounded...weird and clingy and maybe creepy. Shit. She needed her head examined. "It'll be on. Promise." she amended, and hoped he didn't look at her like she was nuts. And that maybe he wouldn't remember that she'd said she'd miss him while he was gone.

"Sophie has the details of my flights, so she'll be able to tell you when I'm due to take off and land. In fact - they're probably on line, if you, y'know, wanted to check to see whether there are delays or anything ever," he told her, not batting an eyelid at her comments. He knew that for his part, she'd probably be getting sick of messages from him, and that once he'd sent one, he'd be twitchy the whole time til he got a reply. It wasn't like he'd have anything else to do.

"I probably will." she said, knowing 'probably' was 'definitely' in reality. She tugged on his head as they headed for the door. "Otherwise I'll just worry and everything. So...I'll have to internet stalk you. It'll be great." she told him. Which was weird of her. But she would be. She was just teasing about the stalker bit. She wasn't a stalker. She was just...clingy. A lot.

"It will - it'll be like watching a really slow motion Indiana Jones cut. Though if I get back here to find you've drawn all over my monitor with red marker pen, we'll have to have words," he joked, finding his sense of humour again - all part and parcel of moving on and determinedly coping with things.

She laughed, and hummed a little bit of the Indiana Jones theme. "I'll try and restrain myself from that, though I make no promises. It might be far too much fun to pass up. You'll have to text me a lot just to make sure that I'm not doing that." she suggested. "Distract me with random stuff."

"I can regale you with stories about how stunningly boring sitting around an airport is - and, really, by the time my next flight is due, probably how jealous I am that you're actually mostly deaf and don't have to be driven insane by the, the... noise that is an airport." He gestured with that, bringing a hand up near his head. It was hard to explain - it wasn't like the places were overly noisy, it was just that continuous, low level, hubbub that never stopped.

Lullaby laughed at that. "I'd trade you for the few hours if I could." she said. "But then again it would kinda suck, because I'd want to hear you. I got to in the dream that once when Billy did that, but other than that, I haven't gotten to. I'd like to hear again sometime, how you sound for real." she said as they headed out. "Cuz I know that neither one of us does well in crowds, and I'm sure those places'll drive you crazy. Can you bring earplugs? Or...headphones or something?" she asked.

Dean shook his head. "I don't do well with headphones - long enough and they give me a headache. Anyway, I get driven so crazy by other people listening to music with headphones, still being able to almost hear it, that I couldn't do that to people. I haven't tried earplugs though, but it'd feel a bit weird, I think. I dunno - maybe," he allowed, trying to imagine himself sitting in the middle of an airport lounge wearing earplugs. "And you're not missing anything, not being able to hear me. I have a stupid accent, and a dull tone, so, yeah - you're missing exactly nothing."

Lullaby led the way outside and towards the cars. "Says you. I'm just used to people here. But you sound different. I like it. It's kinda fun for me to hear. And it's definitely fun for me to read, because you form your words differently. But I like your accent. I think it's cute." she told him. "Sooooo there. Nyaa." And she stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dean told her, brushing that off. Americans always seemed to think his accent classified as 'cute', so he thought nothing of it as he fished his keys out of his pocket and climbed in the driver's side, starting the engine up for the drive down into town. He was going to miss being able to drive at home.

She laughed, then got into the passenger's side. She wondered how he'd do on the trip. How he'd do speaking to his parents, and how they did with the news about her. Everything seemed so tentative to her right then. Like it was about to crack, everything that was set up. She didn't want it to, but she knew that...well. That's what happened. Or, around here it did. She settled into her seat and turned her eyes on him, doing what was now natural--watching him while he drove. She hoped he didn't have an episode like that when she couldn't be there. That...was a huge concern of hers. She really hated that idea. It was...well okay she couldn't really tell herself it was just a few hours, it was probably more like a day. A lot happened in a day. Their lives had been changed over and again in spans of twenty four hours.