Lost

Who: Dean and Thia, also Dean, Billy and Thia
Where: By the lake, on the road to the north of Marquette, Dean's house, Billy and Maddie's new house
When: Afternoon

Dean sat on the bonnet of his car, pulled over, looking out across the lake. He didn't even really know where he was - somewhere to the south-ish of Marquette. Somewhere. And by the lake - but it was a bloody big lake. Maybe a half hour's drive outside of town. He'd just driven when he'd left home, not really paying that much attention. Going in circles a lot. And he'd ended up here. By the beach. Away from everyone else. And he'd just been sitting here for an hour or so, staring out over the lake, trying to come to terms with the unthinkable - the fact he might have to leave.

He held his mobile phone in his hands. He'd been trying to write the message for over an hour now. Typing and deleting and rewording. He read it over once more before thinking fuck it and pressing send. Leaving the message simply as: No matter where I am, I will always be there for you. I will always be your best friend. <3 Dean

Lullaby was still kind of locked in her room when the text came. She was sitting by the window, she'd opened it up, and as far as she could tell, Chance had been right. She looked fine again today. Or...looking down at herself had told her that, she hadn't bothered trying to find someone to confirm that for her. Or, she was just far too afraid to. She picked up her phone and smiled when she saw it was Dean, but then she read the message.

And she read it again. About four times before she squeezed her eyes shut, then read it one last time, to be sure she was getting that right. Because that just...that sounded bad. And he always signed his texts -D, he never put a heart on there. It rarely ever had his whole name. A sinking feeling swept over her, and she wondered what had happened. There were probably hundreds of things that could have, that would have prompted a message like the one she had there, but she couldn't for the life of her come up with one. About the only acceptable thing would be if he was say...drunk. Like....like he had left with someone after the party and they'd just kept drinking and he was in the 'i love you man' stage or something. Either way, there was no way she couldn't answer.

What did she say? 'what's the matter'? 'I know'? Because she did, or she thought she did. Seeing it put like that just made things all wonky. Or they felt that way. She was having too many thoughts.

I know you'll be there for me, what's going on? Are you okay? Where are you?<3thia

He didn't have a follow on when he got her answer. It had taken him so long to write the first message. Could he not just pretend this wasn't happening - put his faith in Sophie and Oz to sort this out? If they did that then he wouldn't have to leave and Thia wouldn't even have to know that was ever a possibility.

But what if they couldn't sort it out? Would he just not tell her until the moment they had to leave for the airport? And - who'd finish her room then? He'd had all these plans. They were all worked out. He couldn't leave. He stared at her message for about ten minutes, unable to come up with a reply. But, he had to say something. i'm by the lake. i miss u.

Lullaby was pacing by the time she got the next text back. Pacing, insanely worried, feeling sick to her stomach...she was considering texting him again, or something, but then her phone buzzed in her hand and she immediately read the message. Which...really didn't help. In any manner. She sat on the windowframe and stared again. He missed her? She missed him too, all the time, but they didn't--Dean especially. Dean just didn't say things like that. Hell, when she was going to leave, it had been like pulling teeth just to get him to own up to the fact that he would miss her at all. So to get it in a text, after everything else... And of course he'd skipped answering what was going on. I miss you too. Why don't you come here? We'll talk about whatever is going on. We'll go for a walk or a ride or something. Anywhere you want to go. you're worrying me.<3thia she sent.

What she'd erased was 'you're scaring me'.

He read her message and knew he wanted that - he wanted that so badly. But, at the same time, he was almost scared to, because he didn't know if he'd be able to let her go again. He just wanted to cling right now. They couldn't make him leave. They couldn't. i don't know wot 2 do. they said i hve 2 go home. He almost didn't send it - he didn't want to admit it. If he didn't admit it, maybe it wouldn't be true. Maybe he could ignore it. But, in the end, after another long wait, he sent it anyway.

She was wondering if she could find him. Like if Maddie could track him--only she knew she couldn't, could she break the non-tracky spell? She had enough time to be thinking about it before she got another text from him, and she sat heavily on the floor. He didn't have to wait long for a reply this time. What do you mean you have to go home? Home--not back to England, right? Please not that. Kinda anything but that. You're not allowed to go. You can't. You can't you can't you can't. Please, god, if you're up there and you're still taking calls from things like me...I can't do this without him...

He read her reply and closed his eyes for a moment. They couldn't make him go, he wouldn't go. He'd refuse - they couldn't make him. Except, they could, couldn't they. Sophie and Oz - they'd have to find a way to fix this. They had to. no, back to eng. There was oh so much more to say than that, but where did you start?

It was her turn to take too long to answer. Because she kept staring at the words she got back, until they blurred, because tears had welled up in her eyes. She knew she should really probably be trying to figure something out here. Something. Anything, really, would do right now. Why was he texting her with this? Why wasn't he here right now? Wiping at her eyes, she tried to think of what to say. Anything that might be even the slightest bit helpful. She tried really hard to get her mind in gear properly, but it wasn't cooperating. She couldn't think of a single thing that could make this better. About all she could think of was that they could run. But...they couldn't, could they. Not really. But god that was her first impulse. That was what she wanted to do. She had to say something back. She also had to get past the feeling like she was going to throw up, even if she knew nothing was in her stomach. Please don't leave me here alone. Please don't. She couldn't send that to him but that's what was running through her head. Over and over.

why ar u so far away right now? was what she wound up sending, and wished a heartbeat later that she hadn't.

He read her message and just felt even more miserable, if that was possible. But at least she didn't have to wait long for an answer as he texted back what was instinctive. i dont no. i dont no wht 2 do.

come here. we'll go somewhere. i'm going to start walking. just come here, kay? please? she texted back, wiping at her eyes again and she was already starting to unlock her door. at least walking would give her something to do, some direction to go. She didn't know where he was, 'the lake' really was vague and 'the lake' spanned into another fucking country, but she didn't really care. She'd just keep walking. and maybe eventually he'd show up. All she did know was with this going on, she couldn't stay where she was even a second longer.

Dean read her message over a few times before typing in the single letter reply: k. He sent it and for a while just went back to staring out over the lake, somehow unable to get himself to move. But, eventually, he did, sliding down off the bonnet and slipping behind the wheel. He slowly pulled back out onto the road and started to drive in what might be the right direction, knowing that this might just take a while.

Lullaby walked out, and kept walking. She walked up the dirt road, and kept going, not even caring at current that she could be seen. Didn't seem to matter right now. Not a whole lot did. She'd hoped that maybe once she was off the property that she would feel even a little better, but she didn't. If he really had to go...she couldn't picture it. She couldn't imagine her life without him in it. It didn't work like that. He needed to be here. He was happy here...or...god. She kept wiping at her eyes, because she couldn't quite get herself to stop tearing. And just when she figured she'd quit, they were there again. She wasn't openly sobbing, but the waterworks just wouldn't shut off. Her mind kept circling round and round the fact that this was flat out not acceptable.

It seemed forever until she came into sight, walking at the side of the road, but then again, he hadn't been driving very fast - he didn't trust himself right now. And possibly he was stalling, though he couldn't quite define the reasons. He wasn't thinking straight at the moment. He slowed further and pulled over to the side of the road, driver's side to her, since he'd left halfway through fixing the passenger door and he didn't know if it would open at all at the moment. He opened the door and just looked at her.

She looked up only when she saw the movement, and walked around the door, automatically reaching for him. She didn't know if it was to pull him out with her or if she was going to climb over him to get into the car with him, she just wanted to cling for a minute. Or longer. They could just keep going on that, couldn't they? Seriously now. She wound up half ducking into the car with him, arms already around his neck. She probably would have said something if she didn't figure trying to use her voice was going to have her bursting into tears again.

He dragged her into the car fully and onto his lap, pulling her close and burying his face in her neck, breathing in against her skin as he clung to her, not caring for a moment about any of it.

She didn't protest one bit, and was perfectly fine with exactly what he'd done. It got her closer and that's what she needed, and from what it felt like, it was what he needed too. The blackness surrounding him was bad, of course. Lullaby realized she was holding onto him like the world was ending. But...that's what it felt like so she didn't even start trying to curb that yet. Right now, in that moment, she wasn't really of a mind to edit herself at all. She didn't want to. God did she not want to. She just wanted to cling to him and have this whole thing fixed. Couldn't they have that? The magically fixed thing? What was running through her mind was a lot of things. One of which was Dean didn't do 'lost'. Dean planned things, and he occasionally had flail moments, yeah, but he didn't not know what to do. Definitely not to the point where he was saying he didn't know what to do.

This sucked far beyond the telling of it. She didn't know what to do either. Not even slightly. And she knew they'd have to figure something out, but she was too thrown to come up with anything. She recognized she was worried about him possibly more than she'd been to date. She drifted her fingers into the hair at the back of his head, but it was just to keep clinging. To hold him there. To keep him there.

Dean made himself pull back and he lifted her again, this time into the passengers seat, wordlessly, before he pulled shut the car door and did a U-turn that only just kept the car on the road, heading them back down toward town. He didn't try to talk to her, he just concentrated on driving.

She sat in the passenger's seat and watched him. She probably couldn't have taken her eyes off of him if she tried, and she didn't. She just kept her gaze there, like he might disappear at any moment. She didn't ask where they were headed--she didn't especially care. He could be driving them to Canada for all she knew and she'd just...go along for the ride. She kept attempting to calm herself down some. It worked marginally. Now that she was there, physically with him, she felt slightly better. That didn't fix the sick feeling in her stomach, though. That wasn't going anywhere. It was only belatedly that she thought they might be headed home. Home-home.

That was exactly where Dean was heading them, as he turned into his road and drove to the end, parking up in the drive of the large house that they'd so recently vacated. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand so that he could help her climb over and out the driver's side once again. Billy's truck was parked up outside, so he was obviously here working, but it was a big house - they could avoid him.

Lullaby climbed out, and kept hold of his hand, knowing where she wanted to go. His closet. And she sort of automatically started them there,also aware that Billy was around, but he was probably working, and she was willing to bet he'd leave them be. She realized that her grip on Dean's hand was a little too tight, and tried to ease up a little, but that was more difficult than it should have been.

They walked together through the house, both clearly knowing where they were going. Dean felt her try and loosen her grip on his hand and just held on to her extra tightly to stop that kind of nonsense. Not now - she couldn't let go now. He headed them into his old room and straight for his closet. It was strangely empty now, bits and bobs still around - after all, their move was only temporary. His boxes of Lego were still here, some of his cases. But most of the clothes were gone. He'd left the blankets and pillows in the bottom of the closet though - they'd not been needed and he'd been unable to bring himself to break up the nest. He sat, pulling her down with him without a second thought, into his lap as he leaned back against the wall.

She curled up on his lap automatically, arms going around him, and she didn't say anything right away. She knew that she'd have to. And that she had to say something that would make sense, but she still couldn't quite come up with anything she accepted. There was so much buzzing through her head that she didn't even know where to start, or even what was acceptable to say. She didn't want to make anything worse for him, and she knew probably a good lot of what ran through her head would do just that.

Dean rested his head back against the wall, his arms loosely round her. Somehow, now they were here, it made it better and worse at the same time. Better because they were here. Better because this was a safe place. Better because here neither of them was going anywhere and here calmed him. And worse for that very reason - because it gave him time to think, and all he could think about was the fact that he might have to leave. After everything, it was something perfectly normal and ordinary that was going to bring it all crashing down. "Sophie's visa's been taken back," he told her, after a long silence. "She was meant to be a student, she's not, they're deporting her. And me with her, since she's my only relative here." He was surprised at how calm his voice sounded there, though it was heavy with emotion, but he sounded tired more than angry - he'd gone through anger hours ago. Now he just felt helpless.

She listened, and gave him points for having a voice that didn't shake. She figured hers would still be unsteady if she tried, and knew she'd be getting to that in a second to test the theory. She listened,and wondered how it could get fixed. Because this had to be fixable. Absolutely had to. "Can't she re-enroll?" she asked. Even if she was sure that would have been the first thing done if it was that easy, so she already knew the answer. But she had to ask.

Dean shook his head from side to side, still resting back against the wall. "Nope - not til next semester, apparently. And she has to reapply for her visa in England." God, that meant that he might not be back until February. If his mum decided that he should come back at all. Maybe she'd decide that this was just all interrupting school too much and want to keep him - no, none of this was at all acceptable.

Next semester. That was a long time. And she didn't even know how long it took for something like that to go through. Or if his would be renewed with hers. Or how any of it worked. "Dean I don't-" want you to go. You can't go. Okay? You can't. So, there's got to be another way here, I don't know what it is but there's got to be. She bit her lower lip on her words, and closed her eyes for a moment, curling in towards him more, face turned in towards his neck. "I don't want you to go." Which was the lesser evil of telling him she didn't think she could handle it if he did.

He closed his eyes, head still tilted up toward the ceiling, even as she curled into him more. "I don't want to go either," he told her, sounding as miserable as he felt right now.

She could hear it in his voice, so she didn't need the visuals of the blackness that kept coming off of him. She was quiet for a few minutes, trying to line her thoughts up properly. Not that that worked out well for her, but she gave it an effort. "I could learn how to use the mirrors. I could come see you." she said, voice soft and barely audible. She didn't especially sound like she liked the idea, and she didn't. Because visiting meant he was someplace else. Where visiting was all required and the like.

He squeezed his eyes tight shut for a moment. Was this it? Were they just... resigned to this now? This couldn't be it - she was meant to come up with a plan, or something. There should be a magic wand - there was fucking magic, why couldn't there be a fucking magic wand? make things all better? Fix this. "I'm not leaving you here alone," he told her, almost bullishly. That was even more unthinkable than him leaving. It had been making him twitch having her a few miles away - across an ocean was just not acceptable.

Even if she knew it probably shouldn't--hearing him say that made her feel a little better. On what level, she couldn't quite tell, but somewhere in there. "So what do we do?" she asked. Not at all telling him that that was unrealistic, and it probably wasn't up to them in any fashion, and his decision that he wasn't leaving her here by herself could just be words. She didn't want them to just be words, she wanted that to be the truth. She believed he'd try. "I keep thinking we should just...leave. But I know we can't."

"Run away-" together. No, just away. It was tempting, but pointless. He'd considered it earlier, for a few minutes at least. but what would it get them? Where would it get them? Aside from 'nowhere'. The illegal immigrant and the dead girl. Sounded like the start of a really bad joke.

She stilled for a second, then smiled a tiny bit before it died. "Yeah. And I know. It wouldn't work. We wouldn't get very far. And I don't even know what would happen to you legally if you did try to run. But...it was the first thing that went through my mind, honestly. That's probably a bad thing, huh?" she asked, not sure if she honestly expected an answer or not.

"First thing that went through mine too," Dean admitted, hating this. "Thia - can I swap this for vampires?" He asked her, finally lifting his head from off the wall and looking down at her. "Or zombies? Major world apocalypse, maybe?" Somehow that all seemed easier to deal with.

"Yes. Please. We can deal with those things." Lullaby said. Or, they dealt with them better. Vampires and zombies and anything else...that was something they could actually fight. Or, alright, Dean could fight. She could be moral support, and she could take care of him. But the point was that they could do something about it, and this it felt like they couldn't. It all rode on Sophie. "So...if we were going to leave, where would you want to go?" she asked. It was a hypothetical question, of course. She knew they weren't going anywhere, but...she didn't know what else to say. She'd already said she'd go see him...and he'd said he wasn't leaving her. But...she really didn't figure she could go with him, either. And she couldn't even invite herself over to his house, she definitely couldn't invite herself over to his country.

"I dunno - I don't know where there is, really. Iron Mountain's the farthest away I've been," he reminded her. He knew there was a lot more to the US than this, but he'd only seen anywhere else from out of the window of a plane, or the inside of an airport lounge.

She smiled a little. "Well there's a big world." she said. Not that they could manage to go many places in it. But in theory, there was in fact, a huge world to get lost in. "We could go be missionaries in...somewhere. Some country neither of us has been to. And no one would expect us to be. Technically, we can't even be tracked." At least, not magically. Practically? Oh hells yes. But she was ignoring.

Dean didn't say anything. She was trying, he knew that, but he just couldn't - he didn't have the heart to join in right now. He was stuck between denial that this could even be happening and this huge doomy cloud of realisation that it was and nothing had scared him so much in his life. He couldn't leave. He was needed here, he was wanted here, he fit here. He couldn't go back to a 'normal' life back home. He didn't want that and he didn't think he'd be able to cope with it, not now. And he couldn't leave her - she'd have to come with him. But he'd never had any luck convincing her she should be anywhere - he couldn't even get her out of that house because she thought she should be there. He wasn't going to be able to get her to another country. He'd have to make arrangements for her. Make sure Oz would look after her, that Joshua was definitely going to be around. The guy would have to step up, whether he was capable or not, he'd have to learn. And there was Billy - he'd have to look out for her too. He'd have to talk to all of them.

She didn't make him speak or anything. She let the conversation die where it was, and she just shifted, tilting her face up as she tried to see him in the dark. Her thoughts went running wild again. All the things she shouldn't say. "Did she say she would be trying to get back? If you have to go?" she asked. Because she was holding onto an 'if' there.

"I don't know. She's - Oz is looking into ways to stop it, but... She said we had to prepare that we might have to leave. I - we didn't exactly have an indepth heart-to-heart about it," he admitted. Since he'd run off half way through the conversation.

Nodding, she accepted that. "When would you have to go?" she asked, feeling emotionally all over the place. Because she was feeling that urge to cry again, and she'd kind of thought she was done now. Awesome. She needed to pull it together better than that for him. It was just difficult. Dean was...her rock. Things were okay because he was there, and he was always there, whenever she needed him and when she didn't, too. So the loss of him...well. That wasn't going to be pretty.

"We have a week," he told her. That wasn't long enough - that didn't even give them long enough to figure something out, did it? If there was a way to stop this - a week wasn't long enough.

She stilled. It was one thing thinking about him leaving at all. It was another to be told it was just a few days away. It was like a kick to the gut. "Dean, you can't leave me in a week." she said, that bit not passing through her mind at all before it was out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, I just...this isn't, and...I can't, and...you and..." She couldn't finish a thought for the life of her right then.

He squeezed his eyes shut and gave up on the loose holding then, pulling her tight to him and hugging her to him as though the world was ending. He kept his mouth shut though, he didn't trust anything he had to say right now, except he knew none of it would help at all. So, he just held her to him, burying his face in her hair.

Lullaby hugged him back, clinging just like he was. She concentrated on breathing, so she didn't do that burst into tears thing. She really didn't want to right now, not like she ever did, but right now seemed worse. Other worse things were going through her mind too. Like she wanted to tell him she loved him again. Only she knew she couldn't, because he'd reacted so spectacularly badly last time that she'd firmly promised herself that it wasn't ever getting said again. It just played in heavily at the moment, and was on the surface of her mind. It being one of the big reasons he wasn't allowed to go. She loved him, he was her best friend, and she had a hard enough time with day to day life without losing that one massive, unfailing bright spot.

"Thia, come back with me," Dean asked of her. "If - if I have to leave in a week-" He was clinging to that if, though it was seeming fainter all the time, though he had no reason for that to have changed. No evidence that it was more or less likely. He was just becoming resigned to the worst-case scenario. "-don't go back to that house. Come back with me. I know there's not much room, but..." I want to spend as much time as possible with you before I lose you.

That was something she didn't really have to think about. Not really. She'd probably go back to Maddie and Billy's after Dean was gone so they could wait a week. At first, she'd almost thought he was talking about England, though, she supposed maybe there wasn't much room there either. She didn't know. Either way she was accepting that. "Okay, whatever you want, Dean." she told him, and in that moment--she was far more serious than was healthy. If he was talking here, she was going to want to be around him as much as she could be, even if that might just make it harder when he left.

"I was going to paint you your room," he told her, figuring that it didn't matter if he ruined the surprise now, since he wasn't going to be able to do it. "I had the design all worked out - I'd talked to Billy and he was going to make sure your room was put back together first, so I have time to do it after school and everything. It was going to be great - I think you would have really liked it."

"Were you?" she asked. It made her smile, but it also made her all teary eyed. "What was the design?" she asked, after trying to swallow back down the lump in her throat. That took work, so her second response was slightly later than it should have been. "And I'm sure I would have liked anything you did like that..." Which reminded her of the tattoo. Which she was going to be getting within the week, that was for damn sure.

"It's - hard to explain. I have it all drawn out - I'll show you later, if you want," he offered, thinking that he was going to be leaving her his sketch pad, since she'd seemed to like his stuff so much. He wondered if she'd recognise herself in a lot of his designs. Maybe he'd wait until the last minute to give her that - so if she did see, he'd be gone. Maybe that would be easier, though he doubted there was any 'easier' about any of this. "There were going to be stars on the ceiling though - loads and loads of little silver stars."

She reached up to wipe at her eyes, thinking that was the sweetest thing ever. Dean just...apparently occasionally had that sweet streak, and that was proof. "Maybe you can do it when you come back." she said. Because if he was going, maybe he wouldn't be gone forever. Maybe Sophie would get everything sorted, and they would be back. Sure, it would be a long time, but she would learn how to go see him, she'd learn how to work the mirrors. It was already unthinkable for her to consider that he was going, but it was impossible to think he'd never come back.

"Yeah, maybe," he agreed, though he was thinking that if he did go, it'd be a battle to get back again - his mum would want to enrol him in college, after all. But - it was into the school year now. Maybe he could just not go, he didn't have to - he was over sixteen. Mandatory school was done with. but then - he'd be behind for the school year here, wouldn't he? Shit, there wasn't an answer here.

She didn't like that answer, and she shifted again, almost facing him. "Dean if you're leaving, you have to tell me you're coming back." she said, voice not exactly steady. "Okay? Even if you're just lying about it, you have to tell me that, okay? I really don't think I can--" she broke off there, stopping herself from spouting all the little truths that just made everything harder.

"Would you come with me?" he asked her, not willing to lie to her, even if she wanted him to. Even if she'd directly told him to. He looked down, between them. "Sorry, I - it's not fair of me to ask. This is your home, I - pretend I didn't say that," he told her. Oz would look after her, she was pack, wasn't she? Oz would look after her.

She didn't say anything for a few long moments, before she slipped her arms around his neck. "Would you want me to?" she asked. "I...if you wanted me to, and I was allowed, I would." she told him. Because that was just flat, plain truth. And she'd miss home, and she'd still be figuring out the mirror thing so she could visit, but if it was a choice...she'd go with Dean.

It was probably really, really telling that she didn't have to think about that long. That she didn't have to debate it out in her head and weigh things.

He smiled a little then, for the first time since he'd got the news. "Yeah, yes I'd like you to come with me. I don't want to leave you here, I... Having you a few miles down the road is... I couldn't imagine... I just... I... Yeah," he said, not able to get proper sentences out there.

She nodded, and hugged him close, turning her face in towards his neck as she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Nothing was fixed, of course, and she was actually pretty sure that that couldn't happen. Who's mom was actually going to be cool with the previously dead best friend coming to live with them? But it was nice to hear him say. "I miss you." she told him. And then kind of wished she'd kept that bit to herself, but it slipped out.

"I miss you too," he told her, figuring that it didn't matter anymore. Nothing seemed to matter any more right now. Except - she'd come with him, wouldn't she? He'd not thought that she would. To the extent that he'd almost not asked her, not wanting to put her in a position where she had to make him feel worse by turning him down. But he had and she'd agreed and - and so she'd know he missed her anyway. And he'd told her earlier.

It was a few minutes before she said anything further. "Find out if it's okay. Maybe not...like right now, or tomorrow, or something, but just...find out. Let me know." Of course if she was staying with him regardless, she'd know anyways. She had the brief little wonder if they'd be sharing a room, but figured that didn't actually matter. "Think you have about seventy dollars? Or we could borrow it from Oz?" she asked.

"Find out...? If what's okay?" Dean asked her, a little confused about that. "And - yeah, I think I have seventy dollars." The two requests dragged him out of himself a little, because he didn't get what either of them were about.

"...if I can stay with you if worst comes to worst?" Lullaby suggested, blinking a little. "And good. I want to go get the tattoo you drew for me done before then, if it happens." She didn't know how old one had to be in England, and she knew the rules here. Which she now was cool with, according to her driver's license.

"Of course you can stay with me," Dean told her, giving her a hug and then moving her to lean her back against his chest a little more, leaning back against the wall again. "I don't have a closet though, we'll have to work something out..." he joked, actually almost managing to pull it off as well. "You're really going to get that tattoo?" he asked. He'd not been sure if she really intended to go through with it.

"'Course I am." she said, setting back properly, hugging his arms around her. She laced her fingers through his too, just that added little bit of closeness. "I asked you to draw me a tattoo, you did, why wouldn't I?" she asked. "We just have to decide where it should go." she added. She wondered on his confidence that she could stay with him, but maybe he just had a really tolerant mom. It was possible. Her own parents had been pretty awesome.

"Yeah, I know, but, I just... Okay, I'm stupid. Sorry," he apologised as he realised he didn't have a good reason there. To him it had just been a thing - he didn't think that she'd actually go through with it. Though, since she was, that raised that question again. The question of whether he should tell her how much it meant to him. He didn't know with that one.

"You're not stupid." she said automatically, starting to absently play with his fingers like she did sometimes. It was familiar, and while she was feeling a little better, she was still massively unsettled, and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach hadn't quite ebbed. But she was trying. "So, where should I get it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dean said, automatically, determinedly not thinking about large available expanses of skin. His automatic, gut feelings was that it should be somewhere hidden, private, their thing, shared between them, but - he couldn't say that and why should it be? If she didn't want that. And it wasn't as if they were big into secret-sharings or anything. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." she said honestly. "I was hoping you'd have ideas. You designed it. Were you thinking of anyplace in particular?" she asked, tilting her head back against his collarbone as she did so. "I am open for suggestion. Though...I think you were right. I should try to figure a place that might not get scarred." Which...well. There might not be many places like that.

Ideas? Oh, he definitely had ideas. He just wasn't thinking about them. But - she was pushing for his input, which meant that she was going to be disappointed and confused at him if he didn't give it. He gently disentangled his right hand from hers and slipped it down in between them, resting it against the small of her back. "How about here?" he asked her.

She hadn't expected that, she'd expected...well, just an answer, really. She hadn't seen the him touching her thing coming. And alright, she didn't mind. At all. But she'd been sort of pushing aside her own little urges, and that sort of got deemed as unfair in the back of her mind. With all the talk of him leaving, and how neither of them wanted that, and all, it brought to mind some ways to say things without saying them. And now they were kind of back on her mind, where she was going to ignore them. Entirely. Hopefully. And, theoretically her silence could be due to her having to think about her answer, which she didn't necessarily have to do. "It can go there." she agreed. Yes, sure, wherever he wanted, that was cool.

He held his hand there until she spoke, and then for a few moments longer, before he kicked his brain back into gear and let it slip away, though only to go back to holding her again. He was starting to really think about taking her back with him, about the fact that their house wasn't huge - he'd probably have to share with his brother. God, that would suck, but she could have his room then. They'd find room, they'd have to. They'd figure it out.

"So...one of these next few days, we'll take a drive to Escanaba and get it for me?" she suggested. "I don't know how much it'll cost exactly, it could be cheaper than that, I just kinda...guessed." she admitted. "But I'd like it. ...and soon. I thought it was really nice." she told him honestly, threading her fingers back through his again so she could go back to messing around with his hand. And maybe the heart monitor around his wrist.

"They open Sundays?" Dean asked, not sure about Sunday opening hours over here - very little was open on a Sunday back home, but that was back home. And, he suddenly realised, he was thinking of England as 'home' again already. Shit. He still didn't actually want to leave here. Even if she was coming. He didn't want to leave anyone else behind. Would Oz come too? If Sophie had to leave. He liked the guy - he didn't want to leave him behind. And, he'd been looking forward to Caleb coming home. And he'd begun to make friends with Joshua. And there was the girl from the party last night - was there even any point now seeing whether the 'see you at school' agreement had, in fact, been a total brush off? And, shit - Isaac. No, he didn't want to leave everything hanging like this.

"I don't know, I can call and ask or something." Lullaby said. "I think they are. Tattoo parlors around here kinda go for whatever hours they can function, because it's such a small area. I know the one here is open sundays." But she couldn't go to the one here. Obviously. "We'll see." She traced her finger along the cord for the heart monitor, rubbing it back and forth along it and counting how many times it was wound around his wrist. If she couldnt' go with him, would he keep that? Would it work even if they were an ocean apart?

"If not, I'll skip school to take you," he promised. "If we're going then that's not important any more." Except to see the people he'd be leaving behind. I can't go, he thought, again, rebelling against his acceptance that that had to happen. He couldn't go - even if she came with him, it didn't matter. He couldn't just leave people here, not with the way the town was going. It was like he'd said with Joshua - you didn't just walk away, you didn't just leave all of this and go back to a normal life. It didn't work like that. "I can't go," he said, his voice small.

She heard it, but only because he was talking near her ear. She shifted again, more to face him, and she reached up to sift her fingers back through his hair, and then she put her palms to his cheeks. "We'll think of something." she told him. "Okay? I don't know what, but we'll figure it out. I'll...start researching things, and you said Oz and Sophie were looking at options and everything too, right? And maybe Caleb knows some way, or whatever. We'll figure it out." she promised. With waaay more confidence than she felt in the matter, but she hated hearing him like that. It dug deep at her heart so she was going to do anything she could to make sure she didn't hear that again. Not from Dean.

His eyes ticked up to meet hers and he didn't move. After a moment, he nodded, his face moving slightly against her hands. "Caleb's out of town still, he has demon trouble - I don't want to bother him with this," he said, after a moment more. "But, okay, I... I can't leave everyone here, Thia. Not like this - I - I was talking with Joshua about it last week, about whether we'd go if we could and - I couldn't. I just... There's been so much crap here, Thi. I couldn't go home knowing I was leaving that behind. Not even if - not even if I knew you were coming with me."

"I know. We talked about it before. About you going home, if you could kinda...go back to living a normal life and everything." Lullaby said. "I didn't figure if there was going to England that it would be forever. That it'd be for however long it took, then we'd be back. I can't...I live here. I've said it before, this is my home." She drew in a deep breath, and brushed her thumb against his cheek before she sat back, but only just a little, and only because she needed to give herself just a sliver of distance. "I don't want to be here without you. I don't really want to be anywhere without you. But we would have to come back. So...let's just make it easy and figure out a way so there isn't any leaving to start with."

That was the difference in their outlooks, he knew - she was concentrating on the fact they'd be back; he didn't think they would be. Not in the short term, anyhow. "Let's do that," he agreed. "Let's not go in the first place." In fact, his brain supplied, they should get on that right now, before he forgot himself completely and did something stupid here. Especially given that that little thumb thing had been really far too nice. "We should - we should get on that. No time like the present, right?" he suggested, ignoring the existence of the thumb thing.

"Well, you said Oz is figuring stuff out right now, right?" she asked. "Okay what are ways to like...get a green card? That's what it's called, right?" she asked. "Skip the visa stuff. How can we move over all the technicals and go right to the heart of the matter?" she asked. Since she knew what she'd seen on tv, but didn't know if that was just total bullshit or not. Since it was tv. Not exactly the most accurate of mediums. She balled her hands up into fists on her thighs, and kept resisting the urge to reach back up again. It was hard, and she actually almost failed, her hand coming up again, before she set it back down.

Dean had actually meant that they should get up and go back to the other house, have a bit of time just... not this close. Possibly he should have been a little more overt about that. of course it wouldn't have occurred to her. "I dunno - all I really know about it is the application I had to make to get my visa, which dad mostly did for me. And then what I've seen on TV which could be complete bollocks for all I know. I was thinking that maybe the internet would be a good place to start," he added.

"And I'm saying we should know what we're even looking up. I mean...honestly, thinking about it, if television is right...Oz and Sophie get married, problem solved." Lullaby said. She also shoved her hands into her back pockets, because she still had half of her mind on a different track, and it was one it clearly shouldn't have been on. Kind of like she still felt like she had a ton to say to him, and none of it should be voiced. So she was attempting to focus instead on the actual trauma here, even if it was directly effecting everything else going on inside her head.

Dean frowned. "If it was that easy - I mean... Wouldn't they have gone right to that? I mean, if I was Oz, I mean, that's - I mean, I would have just..." he said, falling over his words. "I mean, I know Oz - he woudln't just... He's a werewolf, for fuck's sake. He wouldn't just let her go and... And Sophie doesn't want to go either and... I mean - you've seen them. So, I mean - if it was that easy..."

Lullaby bit her lower lip and eyed Dean for a second. "...yeah I've seen them." she said. "And...I mean, I know I've seen Oz refer to her as his wife before, and I know there's a whole convoluted history going on, and everything but I think the two of them? Have issues." she said. "...like the other night when we were at your house, something was wrong with Sophie. Nothing too overwhelming and major? But something. I've seen that a lot. So I don't know. But maybe someone should suggest it. Or talk to them or something."

Dean considered this. "Maybe we could talk to Billy and he could do it?" he suggested. Somehow he couldn't see him doing it himself, and he woudln't put Thia in that position. Though - if that's what it took. If they could stop this whole thing just for those two going down the aisle? Even if they had issues, Dean wasn't going to leave just because they wouldn't fucking get over them already.

Lullaby thought about it. "We could ask. I know he's friends with them both, not like...just Oz." she said. "So, he's here now, we could go say something. If that's even true. But..." she drew in a breath and let it out in a rush. "It would fix everything. And you wouldn't have to leave. And it wouldn't even be an issue til....well. Way later." Which she also didn't want to think about, but she'd never wanted to think about that.

"Up," Dean told her, pushing at her a little to encourage her to get up, though he wasn't averse to just standing up and taking her with him, as he'd done a number of time in the past. "Let's go see him." Because not having to leave was a great plan. And later... Might never come. If he could finish school and go to college and get a job that would let him stay - there might never be a later. but he knew that, if this all worked out, then he'd be making damn sure he knew what he needed to do to make sure this never happened to him.

She obeyed, and got up, though she slid her hands down his arms and took his hands to tug him up after her. It was a bunch of bullshit, but she wanted to remain in some kind of contact with him, even if it was just holding onto his hand. "Lead the way." she said, since he would be more likely to find Billy by hearing whatever it was Billy was up to right now.

He did - and finding the dreamwalker really wasn't hard. Dean just followed the noise of falling bits of plaster until he found the guy, chipping out bits of wall before he started filling again. Billy looked a little surprised as they appeared - he'd been expecting Oz to turn up and help today, but not the kids. "Hi - everything okay?" he asked, looking at them expectantly.

Lullaby shook her head. "Not really. We kinda need your help." she said. She sort of took automatic lead here, she knew she was closer to Billy than Dean was, and she stepped just the slightest bit in front of him, a purely unconscious gesture. "I'll skip all the gorey details and just say that Sophie's been given a week to leave the country cuz her student visa is up, cuz she didn't go back to school, and that means she and Dean have to be out if we don't fix things. And it might be pure crap, but we think if she and Oz just get married already, that'll stop all this nonsense, and no one has to worry about things like being an ocean away from their loved ones." she said, condensing as much as possible. "...can you talk to them?"

"Me?" Billy asked, as usual surprised to hear that he was being requested to step in with people - though, really, it seemed to be happening more and more these days. "Erm, sure - but what do you think I can do?" he asked, looking at her. He knew that marriage was a sore spot for his friend, and not exactly a great topic for Sophie either. he didn't think either of the pair were particularly clear thinking or rational about it. In fact, he though they were pretty damn stupid about it all.

Lullaby made a little bit of a face. "Talk sense to them?" she suggested, sounding like she knew how that sounded and she didn't mean it to, but there wasn't any other way to put it. "I mean, if they already thought of it, they probably would be like...on a plane to Vegas or something, and wouldn't have told Dean they were leaving in a week, but...I mean it's obvious they love each other and everything, and I just..I dunno. Maybe we're overreacting, but I'd rather overreact than wait a week and wind up having to say goodbye. Especially if all it might take is someone talking to them who knows them and maybe...I dunno. Knows how to talk to them?" she said. She looked at Billy for a long moment. "Please?"

Billy wasn't so certain that they hadn't already thought about it, but she was right about one thing - someone would have to talk sense to them. Because he wouldn't put it past them to have thought about it, but not actually talked about it to each other. Someone, recently, he'd noticed that the screaming arguments they'd always used to have had been giving way to mostly miserable silences, or just not talking about things at all and gently brooding. He wasn't entirely convinced that he knew how to talk to them though - sometimes, with either one of them, it was like talking to a brick wall. He looked at the girl, and decided that puppy eyes was cheating. But, wasn't that just always the way? "Okay, okay - I'll go talk to them." Which was probably just going to be Oz, at least at first. It explained why the guy hadn't turned up for work this morning though.

She smiled a bit, grateful. And she let go of Dean just long enough to give Billy a quick hug. "Thank you, Billy." she said. She felt a little better just at him saying he'd go talk to them, even if there were no guarantees, and she hadn't asked for any. Just effort in the right direction was something. Then, she was right back to Dean, snagging his hand again. "It's appreciated."

"Yeah, thanks," Dean told him, somewhat appreciatively - though he was honestly more appreciative of it than he let on. He wasn't good at showing his emotions at the best of times, after all. He took Thia's hand again, avoiding Billy's eyes as he did so, since the guy had openly laughed at him last time, and he gently pulled her toward the door, though he didn't really move. He just - the dreamwalker made him uncomfortable at times. It was that knowing look he always seemed to use.

"No problem," Billy told them, actually not giving the handholding a second thought - right now his mind was on Sophie and Oz. And how the hell he was going to approach this one.

Lullaby let herself be drawn more towards the door, and she gave Billy a last wave, then tugged Dean out with her. Not that she knew what they were doing now, or where they were headed, but she felt at the very least like a step had been taken. One in the right direction and everything. Once they were farther away from Billy and everything, she stopped to turn towards Dean, looking up at him. She knew she was probably standing a little close, but...she wanted to be. And she couldn't quite make herself step back. At least she didn't put her arms up around his neck like she wanted to. That would just kinda lead to other thoughts and so she was attempting to hold herself back at least in some areas. Just so she didn't get herself into trouble. Even if since the very second he'd arrived, and pulled her into the car with him, she'd basically just wanted to kiss him. She was still waiting for that desire to drift back. She wanted to ask him how he was, if he was okay, but wasn't sure how to phrase it.

Dean stopped in the hallway as she did, wondering if he could hope now. Was that allowed now? Would this make any difference? Would it work anyway? "So... That's positive?" he suggested to her.

She gave him a light little half smile. "That's positive." she confirmed for him. "It's something, and I think if anyone could talk sense to them it would be him. So, I think it's our best bet. And if that doesn't work, we'll start thinking of alternatives, okay?" she said. Which she was already thinking about, and she was wondering if she should start asking difficult questions. She took his other hand in her free one, because it was that or do that reaching up thing again and she needed to not be doing that. All it would do is make her more likely to do something stupid. Therefore, she wasn't. Yay self-restraint. Or something. She gave both of his hands a light squeeze and tried to project stability and confidence. Which she wasn't necessarily feeling, but she wanted to be there for him like he was for her.

"Okay," Dean agreed, squeezing her hands back and purposefully not stepping forward. In fact, he took half a step back and looked towards the stairs a little, before looking back at her. "So - did you want to go pick some things up from Billy's? And - we should probably tell him that you're coming to stay with me for a while," he added, wanting to get that sorted right now. Positive news or not, he didn't want to let that one go.

She watched him look up the steps. She half wanted to pull him up them, drag him back to his room. Just for a while. But that was just asking for trouble, now wasn't it? Yes, yes it was. So, she latched onto that whole telling Billy she was going to be staying with Dean again for a few days. "Yeah, I'll go let him know. And yeah, we'll need to get a few things." she made a cute face at him. "Back to the house of bad feelings." she said. "Sure you're up for it?" She didn't need clothes, she could borrow his--and she didn't just think that.

"You'll need things - I think I can put up with it." After all, you do, don't you? he thought, but he had the brain not to say. "I'll - I'll be downstairs," he added, thinking a moment or two away would probably be good right now. Realising that he might lose her - that had scared him. Hearing that she'd come with him - that had... He had to keep reminding himself that this might be her home, but at the moment, she didn't really have that many ties here. She didn't really have a huge support network, or that many friends. There was Joshua, who - you didn't want to have your ex as your main support, did you? And some random girl on the beach. And then it was, like, Oz, Billy... But he, he was there for her. He was her best friend - that was why she'd been willing to come. And hadn't she said that she'd only come if it wasn't permanent. It was just - he needed to remember all of that. And wait downstairs.

She nodded. "Kay." she said. She gave his hands another little squeeze in lieu of a hug, then turned and made herself head back towards where Billy was at, to duck inside and talk to him for a minute. She looked back though, even if she tried not to. Then she was back to Billy. "Hey...um...so, with everything going on..." she started, not sure how to word things. Or, maybe, why she was having trouble wording things.

"You're moving out and going to stay with Dean at the old house," Billy filled in for her, looking over his shoulder, appearing entirely unsurprised at that. It was hardly a stretch now, was it? "Sure - I'll let Maddie know. Just - let me know what you want to do when this is all sorted out," he added, thinking that was probably the best way of putting it. One way or the other, afterall, it would be 'sorted out'.

She had opened her mouth, then shut it again, suddenly turning bright red. "I--" she started. "God, are we that obvious?" she asked, wincing. "I'm sorry. I just...if he's going, and...um...I...and he asked if maybe I would go with him if he did have to go home, but we're trying to make sure that doesn't happen first because that would make everything so much easier and really he doesn't wanna go anyways and neither would Sophie and I knew something was the matter with her the other night and I tried to ask but she said she was fine and everything and I'm just--" she broke off to breathe. "You're not mad?"

Billy made an attempt to hide his laughing smile, but it didn't really work. "No, I'm not mad. It makes sense." He considered suggesting that they both move in with him and Maddie for the week - there was so much room at the new house that it calmed his twitches about having other people around fairly successfully, but then again there was the fact that they both had that inexplicable twitch about being there which Billy really didn't understand. With the stress they were both under right now though, it was probably best not to push it - they'd work something out at the smaller house, he was sure.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I just...we both kinda want to...and..." she made another face and wished she'd quit blushing now. "Sorry. You just said it makes sense. I'll stop explaining now." she added. "Thank you though. We're gonna stop and grab a few of my things, and I'll definitely keep you posted on like, what we're going to plan to do, and I really just hope it can all be avoided. ...he really doesn't want to go." she said, voice actually toning back down to serious there. "And I don't think I could handle it if he did."

Billy stood there, looking at her, a highly amused, patient look on his face, trying very hard not to outwardly laugh as she tried to explain what she really didn't need to explain. Not to him, anyhow. He dropped that when she turned serious though, and nodded. "I'll talk with them - I promise," he assured her, giving her a reassuring smile.

"I know, and thank you, again." she said. She gave him a little smile once more. "And I can still probably come by and stuff, and if you ever need anything you can text me, and I can find a way to get there and everything, and...all that." she said. Because she really couldn't possibly get over that bit, and she felt guilty already.

"I know - and thank you. We've really appreciated having you around. And if you want to come back, you're always welcome - you'll always have a home with us, Thia," Billy promised her.

She gave him a very genuine, sweet sort of smile. "Thank you. That means a lot to me." she told him truthfully. It did. It meant worlds to her. And she felt a wash of affection and gratitude. "Really." she added on the end. "I'll...I'll see you later." she said, backing up towards the door again. Though at least it had given her time to stop blushing.

Dean was outside, waiting by the car, leaning against the side, his hands thrust into the pockets of his jacket as he watched the house, waiting for her to come out. He didn't know what to think right now. The whole day had felt like a rollercoaster of activity and emotion and events and he was waiting for the next curve to hit, not knowing whether it would take them up, or down. But he couldn't help but be convinced that there would be more coming.

She headed out, and couldn't help the momentary mental note that he kind of looked good right where he was, leaned against the car, hands in his jacket pockets...she was a fan of that jacket in general, and he just looked good. A little serious, maybe, which was to be expected, considering what was going on today, but... You can stop any time now. she told herself. She walked up and gave him a little smile. "He says it's fine, and everything." she said. "So...we're all good." She was unconsciously fidgeting with the ring he'd given her, twisting it on her finger to right it.

"Good - I'm glad that they're not going to cause a fuss about it," Dean agreed - because in his mind it wouldn't be a case that she wouldn't be leaving there, it was just whether Billy and Maddie were on board with that or not. She'd agreed to come home with him, he wasn't letting anything stop that.

"I didn't figure they would..." she said. Or more she'd hoped they wouldn't because she'd feel really guilty about completely going against their wishes and all. Their disapproval wouldn't have stopped her either. She looked up at him and stepped close, then realized she'd stepped close and she kind of sidestepped a little bit to attempt to play it off as more fidgeting. "You ready to go?" she asked, kind of half looking up at him through her eyelashes in a bout of 'ak, shy'.

"Yeah - yeah. We should..." He said, bordering on babbling when she stepped in and for a moment he just thought... But, no, he was just reading things into the situation, but the urge to act on it was still there. And normally, he'd back off, but there was nowhere to back off too, and if he stepped forward, then he'd be stepping into her more, and she was stepping back so, see, reading in. Totally reading in. He nodded and repeated himself again. "Yeah. yeah - let's go."

She moved to try the driver's side door, since that seemed to be the door they were using, and she didn't feel like attempting to fight with the other one. She looked at him for a long moment again, then ducked down, crawling over the driver's seat to the passenger's side. And she probably shouldn't be relieved that they were going to have to not talk for like...ten minutes or so while they drove to the other house, but...she needed it. She kept having stupid thoughts and urges and she needed not to. ...he wasn't helping. He really wasn't. So she was going to make an attempt not to stare at him this time too, even though she liked getting a few moments at a time to observe him when he couldn't pay attention to her.

Dean stayed well outside the car until he was settled, before getting in and starting up the engine. He hardly dared look at her, telling himself constantly to just... stop it. Just stop it. He'd had this conversation with himself a thousand times before, but it seemed that he was just going to have to keep telling himself that. She wasn't interested, she was his best friend. They were just friends. There were lines. He didn't want to ruin things by crossing them.

Lullaby kept looking back and forth between the gear shift, and Dean's profile. She didn't move when she did it, head tilted to the side and she stole the glances at Dean from behind her eyelashes. She was giving herself a Talk too. What she kept coming back to was the thought that if everything crashed and burned, if it all went to hell and he had to go home, and she couldn't stay with him, if they were really going to be separated...would she regret things if she didn't at least just-- even if he left, you wouldn't be apart forever. But you might be if you did something phenomenally stupid. Okay? So just...calm down. Stop thinking about it.

For once, Dean was really happy that he couldn't drive and talk to her at once, because it meant that he had that time to get his head straight about everything. It was just stress, that was all - he was feeling vulnerable and, okay, scared and panicking and he was just projecting, that was all. Just projecting. It was fine, really, he could just stop that.

When they pulled up at the house, she felt that now familiar badness feeling creep up on her. Maybe that would help. Didn't help the night he brought you here. she thought. Because it really, really hadn't. In fact, she'd kinda sorta had it worse than ever that night, and...she wasn't thinking about it. She did sit up though, and made herself look up at the house. "So...some clothes...you've got your computer, so I probably won't need the laptop, right?" she asked, sort of half leaning towards him, but not overly so, as she waited for him to get out of the car.

"Right," Dean told her, turning off the engine, but not getting out of the car. "Right, clothes, toothbrush, erm, Henna, I guess. Did - I could just stay here?" he suggested, still not sure that he'd had enough space because those urges were still there.

"It might take me a few..." Lullaby said. "You want to stay in the car? I--" would rather you came with me but this place makes you feel awful too, doesn't it, so why am I pushing that? So she instantly felt really bad about that and rambled at him instead. "God I'm sorry I know you hate it here why don't you pull the car back off the property and I'll just go up and get things and say goodbye to Maddie and walk back down. You don't have to come with me, I'm--sorry, I'll just..." she looked back at the passenger's side door and wondered if she could just climb out the window or something.

"No, no - it's fine. I mean, if you want me to come with you I will and I don't want wait back or - I'll - I just thought that. I mean, you're not going to be long and I just... I'll come with you," he told her, firmly. Because, no, he couldn't just let him needing the space get in the way of their friendship - that was more important and if she wanted him there, he'd be there. He reached for the door handle and opened it up, getting out of the car and stepping back so that she could do the same.

She didn't know if that was okay or not, but he was already out of the car and it wasn't like she was going to bodily shove him back in again and tell him to go wait past the gate. He was bigger than her. So if he wanted to stop her he could and then she just would have shoved him and she was not going to keep thinking about it, and she was going to walk right past him now and head up towards the house. Which she did, and she twitched hard at the whole reaching for his hand thing, which she half did then stopped herself, and she recognized she hadn't acknowledged what he'd said. "It won't be long." she promised.

He reached for her hand, taking it and starting to pull her towards the house. "No, we'll be in, get stuff, back out again," he agreed as he pulled her inside the house, trying to ignore the low-level twitch he had going on.

So she was getting pulled along. She was okay with that. At least him taking her hand made her feel slightly less lame about her automatic hand-holdy thing with him. Which really she should start making herself get over any day here now. "Right." she agreed. Up the stairs they went, not spying Maddie in the process. When they got to her room, she opened up the door and it thunked against her bedframe, which she hadn't moved back, and so she had to kind of squeeze in there and shove at the frame to let it open far enough for Dean. Don't ask, don't ask don't ask...

Dean squeezed into the room after her and frowned as he looked at the bed, pushed up by the door. "Erm - you been reorganising again?" he asked, thinking that was the only explanation for that one. "You know - if you'd given me a call, I would have come over and helped you." Would they ever get to a stage where he didn't have to remind her that she could call him to do things?

"You were at a party." Lullaby pointed out. And she didn't answer the question about what she'd been doing. She just reminded him that he did in fact, have a life occasionally and she wasn't about to crash into that so he could move furniture. Or, say, see her when she looked like a fucking zombie. She walked over to grab up her backpack and picked it up, automatically going back towards the bed to grab Henna, and put her in there. She glanced at Dean out of the corner of her eye there, and she was glad she had at least remembered to take the key out of the lock when she'd left. Because that would have been massively suspicious.

Dean sat down on the bed and watched her pack, telling himself that they weren't going to be here long enough to warrant him kicking off his shoes and lying back on the bed. He could just stay out of the way and watch her. "You did this last night-last night?" he asked her - he hadn't actually seen her room again since she'd moved in.

"Yeah." she said. She glanced at him again, and tried not to think about the fact that he was sitting on her bed. And how she was close enough to him to reach out and touch him like how she tucked his hair behind his ear--and...she shouldn't have done that and she quickly turned to go back to her dresser to open up a drawer. Now, if he could just let the subject drop she'd be all good. Or something. And not thinking about him where he was behind her with the bed and everything.

He started to reach for her hip as she touched his hair, but drew his hand back before she could notice - he really probably should have waited by the car. As she moved off, he stood and went over to the window. Leaning against the wall and looking out over the grass, not even looking round at her. He needed to get ahold of himself.

She realized she needed her backpack and jumped just a tiny bit as she saw he'd moved. He'd been on her bed and now he was at the window, and she hadn't heard, of course, and he was well lit over there. She grabbed her backpack again and started shoving some clothes into it. "...do you think you could move it back for me?" she asked, sort of half looking back over her shoulder at him, and thinking she really should have not said anything because it almost opened the subject back up. Maybe. He'd kinda not asked again about the moving thing, and how he'd been at the party and all. But he'd said he'd help, right? And it was heavy and needed to probably not be in front of the door.

"Sure, I can - I can do that," Dean said, turning back from the window as she started speaking. He headed across and put his back to pushing the bed back over to where it looked like its home might actually be. He still wondered about her moving furniture but he was feeling off still and didn't really feel up to pursuing things. Maybe later - god he hated this bloody house.

She paused in what she was doing, just kind of half watching him move the bed, and there were some nicely unhelpful fantasies that just rocketed through her mind, and she turned right the hell back around to put more random clothes into her bag, before she got to the girly things and did that extra fastlike. Then she pulled the drawstrings shut and shrugged it over her shoulder, turning back to him. ...god he looked good. He just did. It wasn't fair. Trauma! They'd been having a rough day. He'd been having a fucking awful day. And a good way to not make that worse was to not do anything fucking stupid like drop her bag, walk over, and push him back onto the bed and follow, then kiss him like the world was ending. See that? Wouldn't help. That would probably make things worse. It suddenly occurred to her that she was going back to a two bedroom house with him. And she wouldn't want him to sleep on the couch. ...well wasn't that bloody fantastic? She did find herself walking back over to him, closer, not quite able to curb that impulse. "Thank you." she said, looking up at him.

He sat back down on the bed as he finished pushing it back into place and realised that his natural instinct was just to reach for her and pull her closer to him and... He quickly stood back up again and moved away from the bed, running his fingers roughly through his hair. "Sure, no problem - you good to go?" he asked, sounding slightly flustered.

"Are you okay--no, probably not, you feel just as twitchy here as I do, I have to stop and grab some stuff from the bathroom then I'm good, I'll um. I'll just get those things." she said, starting towards the door again--or that's where she meant to head. Instead she veered more towards him, and she took his arm, with the idea of leaving the room.

He slipped his arm along until he was able to take her hand as she led him from the room, trailing behind her slightly, half watching her, but retaining enough wherewithal to actually not overtly stare at her. It had to be today, he decided. The trauma of it all - it had him being stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She led them downstairs, and noticed of course that he was trailing behind so she kept half glancing back at him, then deciding she shouldn't, so that was awesome. She ducked into the bathroom on that floor...which had another completely amazing tub and such, which she had tried out and was great. And she decided to share that since they'd mentioned it before. "If this place could stop making me twitch so much...the bathtub? Is the best thing ever." she said, digging up her toothbrush, her hair brush, and she grabbed the assortment of chokers she had made for herself and the like, putting them into the front pockets of her backpack. She looked up to meet his gaze through the medicine cabinet's mirror, and she smiled.

Dean let her go as she moved off to pack things, leaning back against the wall by the door and thrusting his hands firmly into his back pockets. "Yeah?" he asked, not adding anything more to that, because he got this sudden and very vivid mental image that he really needed to not actually be having right now but, yeah, he.... He dropped his eyes to the floor and hoped that he wasn't blushing or anything right now.

"Yeah." she said, turning to look at him properly, and she had her own little mental images, which were spectacularly unhelpful, and she was now thinking that maybe? It was a good thing that Dean didn't come over very often. Because if he did? She couldn't necessarily promise she wouldn't wind up doing something they'd both regret. Again, she was struck with the fact that she didn't do this. She didn't do the crazy hormones thing where she couldn't quite wrestle her mind up out of the gutter even with handcuffs and a cattle prod. It was firmly one track, and she just...her head didn't work like that. But this was the second time now it had, and the other time had been here. When he'd first brought her here. Okay. You can stop it now. Seriously. And don't at all think about how he kind of looks really cute there. With his head down and stuff and how it might just be fun to see what he might do if you stepped up really close and stood on your tiptoes and tilted his face towards yours..... She decided right then that getting out of the room was a good plan. So she grabbed her bag again and started towards him, and tried very hard not to stop where she wanted to, and ask him if he was ready and everything as she brushed past. ...and she couldn't quite make herself walk past without doing that. "Kay...all ready." she said.

He caught her hand again as she brushed past him, just reaching out without thinking to catch it, even though he'd firmly stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and then leaned on them to stop himself bloody doing that, because he was having all these ideas and... They needed to be driving. That would mean that he'd really have to concentrate on something else and not on... "Yup! All good - let's go," he said, practically dragging her out of the room and towards the stairs.

And she was getting dragged again. "I should tell Maddie--" she started, not really protesting being pulled along. At the very least, it helped stop her from doing things that she shouldn't. And she still had unhelpful ideas, all the way down the stairs, but she couldn't act on any of them, because she was being hauled. Yeah. Right. Whatever. Moving forward. "Maddie?" she called, just so they could do that fast.

Dean stopped and took the bag from her shoulder. "You go find Maddie and tell her, I'll take your stuff out to the car," he told her, because he was, in fact, still having troubles shaking those mental images and he needed time to go hit himself over the head a few times and call himself a complete fucking idiot. Maybe he'd go... swim in the lake for a bit. That might work.

Lullaby winced faintly because as she'd been hoping he'd be able to tell her where Maddie called back from, but then he was saying he'd be at the car and she knew he hated it here. So...despite her strong, nearly overpowering urge to give him puppy eyes to keep him there--she resisted. Just barely. "Okay. I'll only be a minute." she promised.

"Okay," Dean agreed again, before shouldering the bag and heading out, stopping for a second on the porch and taking a couple of deep breaths of cold cold air. He jogged down to the car and threw the bag onto the back seat before just standing there, resting against the car, forehead to the roof. He was an idiot. Today had been a bad fucking day, but that was no reason to be an idiot. He'd been doing so well last night - he'd been making an effort, at least. To get out there and meet girls and hopefully meet someone who was, in fact, available and interested, instead of this either/or bullshit he was pulling with Thia. Not that she'd been interested even when she wasn't single or anything and... God. He was an idiot.

Lullaby eventually found Maddie, or more, Maddie had heard her and gone looking for her. She talked to her for a few moments, explained the situation, and Maddie thankfully didn't give Lullaby a hard time. She just smiled a bit, and told her that she could go and be back whenever, to take care of whatever she needed to take care of. So, she did that, then headed towards the door, and gazed down towards the car, pausing before she headed out the door properly as she just...watched for a second. And gave herself a minute to talk herself down from everything. All the trouble she was kicking up for herself, with her hormones today. Then she steeled herself, promised herself she'd be good, and headed back down to the car.

He straightened up as he heard her approach and moved away from the door so she could get in, knowing he should probably say something, but unable to actually think of anything that could be said right now. His mind wasn't currently going towards a whole lot of talking - which was, he decided, another reason to actually do the talking thing. "So! Erm, the party was okay last night - loud. Isaac's band was playing. They're really good," he offered.

She'd been about to ask him if he was alright, if the house was affecting him that bad, because he'd been all leaned down and stuff, and looking not good, but then he'd straightened and everything, so......okay. Maybe he was fine. She crawled into the car and got herself into the passenger's seat. "Did you have a good time then?" she asked. She noted the 'loud' bit. And she smiled. "That's good, he played for me before on his own, but I never got to hear his band. So nice to hear they're good." she added. Then paused. "You decided if you're going to the dance tonight?" Which he said he hadn't been going to go to in the first place, but she figured she'd ask.

Dean looked across at her and gave her a Look. "Thi - I told you before I wasn't going to the dance. I'm definitely not going now." Not when they might only have a week left here. Not when she might change her mind about coming back with him if he had to go, when it came right down to it. He wasn't going to waste any of the time he had with her, not to go to some stupid dance anyway.

She made a cute little face at him. "You don't have to get pissy." she said, a light edge of playfulness in her tone, and she poked his shoulder. "I just asked, in case you changed your mind." she clarified for him. "So...good." she added, even if she knew somewhere in the back of her head she shouldn't. "We'll stay in together then."

"Yeah, we could get a movie or something," he suggested, his mind going to curling up on the sofa with her and... And lots of things that only exist in your head. Movie good idea, the rest is dreaming, leave it, he told himself firmly. There was no reason to back off the movie though.

"Okay. Whatever you want." she said, honestly not caring what they did, so long as it was together. Her mind drifted again towards the whole sleeping situation thing. She guessed she'd take the couch or something. Though what she really wanted was for them to just sleep in his room like the other night. That would be best. Or...not best, depending on one's point of view. She liked to think it was a good idea. "Think we'll have to fight Sophie and Oz for it?" she asked. Then paused. "Actually, we could probably watch a movie off your computer, right? Just turn the monitor?"

"Yeah, we could do that," he agreed. And then realised that would mean watching the movie curled up on his bed and... She had no idea what she did to him sometimes, did she? Seriously? She'd be the death of him. She'd make him curl up with her and she'd snuggle and she'd be all close and friendly and he'd have to just live with it and pretend like he was at all paying attention to the film. At least, that was what he normally did. It'd worked so far. "But - you know, if, in the middle of this entire mess, Sophie and Oz are just going to stop and watch TV? I think I'd rather go out," he added, getting his mind off the subject of her with an idea that kinda pissed him off.

Lullaby shrugged. "Well, if we're talking this evening, there probably won't be much they can be doing by that hour. Though maybe they'll not be home and be off talking to Billy." she said. "And planning a wedding." Because that would be good. "But again...honestly Dean, whatever you want to do? We'll do. I am subject to your whim." she informed him, giving him a smile.

Dean looked at her and opened his mouth to answer that, then very clearly thought the better of it and turned back, pulling out and starting along the drive instead. No, he really really didn't want to vocalise what he'd been about to.

That had her watching him. Blatantly watching him. Because he'd looked like he was going to say something, and by the expression on his face, it had been going to be something...what. Amusing? Maybe playful? Something. "Oh come on!" she cried, poking his shoulder. "What were you going to say?!" she asked. "You can't give me a look like that then not say anything!"

He glanced over at her. "Driving," he said, throwing her a complete excuse. Because what he'd been going to say had been incredibly, overtly flirtatious and highly inappropriate.

"No fair!" she cried, and stuck her tongue out at him with the 'nyaaa' sound and everything because he wasn't looking at her. "And that's meeaaaan and you should tell me when we get back to the house." And she pouted, crossing her arms and making a sad boo boo face, even if it was for no effect whatsoever.

"Maybe," Dean allowed, thinking that maybe he'd actually come up with something that he could have meant by then. Anything was possible, after all. But, right now, he was good with using the excuse of having to drive. God bless the car.

"Maybe?" she asked. She smirked and kept looking at him. "Pleaaaaase?" she asked. She didn't draw attention to herself. In fact, she was kind of giving him an impish sort of grin. "Pretty please? With sugar on top?" she continued.

"Yes, okay, fine - later. Driving," Dean told her, wobbling the car a little as he looked over at her. God, that grin on her was adorable. Driving - he was concentrating on driving.

Lullaby giggled just a little. "Okay okay. Driving." she said. She went back to watching him though. Now that they were off of the property, she was in a slightly better mood, she was in a more playful sort of mood. She kind of thought she shouldn't be, but she was going with the lighter way. Maybe it would help. Or something. Or...maybe she was just flirting. Which was entirely possible. Shit.

Dean pulled them off onto the main road and headed up toward the other house, feeling, as always, some of the weirdness lift as they left the new house. He really didn't like that place and today had been even more of a trial. He decided that he'd be having to do something solo when he got back. Maybe he'd call his mum and talk to her - she'd have to find out about the problem sooner or later anyway. Or, maybe he wasn't that brave. Possibly he'd just check his email, maybe talk to Andy, or see if Caleb was about or... Something. He'd think of something. Something that wasn't her.