Nice Walk, Spoilt

Who: Dean, Thia and a stalker, then with Caleb
Where: Outside Babylon, around town
When: Sometimes after midnight

Dean wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. It had been his suggestion that they leave early. For once in his life he hadn't overthought it. He hadn't thought it at all. It was like the question was just there, on his lips, being spoken as they finished dancing - 'you wanna get out of here?' just that and then she'd been agreeing and his mind was all over the place now, because they were out of Babylon, and walking down the street and not at all headed for the car, like there'd been some silent agreement that they weren't headed straight home, that they were going to go for a walk first, alone, just the two of them and Dean wasn't at all sure that he wasn't about to have a heart attack from all of this as he tried to work out if this was all just the product of an overactive imagination, or whether he might actually be in with a chance here. Because tonight hadn't gone how he'd expected, not really. And she'd been there and she'd been looking at him. And he'd been looking at her. And they'd danced and - and he knew where he'd like this to go, he just had to work out whether she wanted that too, or whether she was just entirely oblivious and this was all his imagination.

Lullaby was similarly nervous, even as they walked, kind of towards the lakeshore. It would be pretty, the moon on the water and everything. And, well. Once they were off the street, she could take her mask off, which she'd been itching to do all night now. She held his hand, and wondered just how badly things could go. And on the flipside of that, how well they could. Because for one of the first times, she wasn't positive it would be the end of the world. And that left a lot of room for speculation. Like, if she just sort of maybe kind of kissed him at some point, would that be okay? It might be, and she didn't quite know how to manage that. She might try though. She wanted to. Her entire focus was on Dean, and the way he'd been paying attention to her all night, how they'd sort of made a point to not be that far away. Even if they'd been talking to other people, they'd still kind of been together. Once they crossed Lakeshore, and headed into the park, she reached up to tug her mask off, drawing in a deep breath, and letting it out with a rush. "I loved the mask, it's very very pretty, but thank god." she breathed, smiling at him. She didn't notice in the slightest that they were being tailed.

Dean looked over at her and smiled a little, reaching to take the mask from her and slip it into his pocket. "You, er..." he started, ducking his head a little before plunging onwards. "You look better without it," he said, a little too fast.

She beamed at him. "Yeah?" she asked. "I hope so. I dunno. I wanted to be all pretty tonight. Y'know, pretend I was a girl for a few hours. Think I managed?" she asked, leaning out from him, though she kept hold of his hand while she did so. Then she held them both up above her head and she spun in a little circle. "Better take a good look, after tonight, I'm going right back to denying any snow white connotations." she teased.

Dean kept hold of her hand as she spun, taking the excuse to step in a little closer, his heart thundering in his chest as he tried to work out whether he was going to go with this or whether he should do what he always did and back off. Did he trust himself to not fuck this up? To not be entirely wrong? He wasn't sure yet - he was entirely winging this. "I think you managed," he agreed. "And I'll always say you make a good snow white - just now I have proof."

She smiled up at him. She was getting little tiny kinda compliments! It was a new thing for her. So she was far too easily pleased with them. Let it never be said that she was a difficult girl to keep happy. "Well, thank you. And you gave me proof that you make an amazing Bond." she told him, grinning. She also had to reach up for his hair again, not that she hadn't done that like a hundred times tonight already or anything. They were heading for the sand, and she paused, so she could toe out of her shoes. Sand in dress shoes sucked, and anyways her feet hurt in the first place from wearing them all night. Dress shoes were never designed for comfort.

She was even shorter next to him as she slipped out of her shoes and he waited for her, considering taking his off, before he reminded himself that he was in a hired suit so he probably shouldn't get the trousers covered in sand, since he had to take it back to the shop in the morning. Oz had left them enough money that a cleaning bill wouldn't be a problem, but he probably should just avoid it in the first place.

The figure that was trailing them, kept doing so, watching for a few long moments, and of course, letting them get farther back from the road. The dark beach was fairly perfect for his purposes, all things considered.

Lullaby, for her part, still hadn't noticed oh...anything. In fact, fighter planes could possibly have dropped out of the sky and she may well have ignored, for all she was paying attention to the world around her. She was far too occupied with the Dean of it all. She tugged him farther out onto the sand, watching the water wash up against the shore, and the moonlight on the lake. She couldn't help but notice how ridiculously romantic this all seemed. "So...did you have an okay time then?" she asked, mind not at all on that, really.

"I had a great time," he told her, glancing down at her side to check which hand she was holding the shoes in and whether her near hand was free for him to take. And lookit! It was! How convenient. He should just not pass that opportunity up, he decided, taking her hand in his to the mental sound of that questioning little voice that pointed out that him holding her hand was really nothing special - they did it all the time, after all.

She laced her fingers through his, and smiled at him, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "Me too." she told him. "Thank you for taking me." she said. She'd almost said 'thank you for asking me' but that would kind of sound a lot more like it was a date. And she knew it wasn't a date. Or, it hadn't started out like that. And it totally wasn't now either! But...she was still having internal raging debates on how much of a chance she wanted to take on doing something else. She walked a little closer, just because.

Dean didn't have an answer for that, but then they've never been the type that needed to fill in silences just because and he let it drift for a few moments, slowing their pace to a wander that wasn't really going anywhere, overly aware of her proximity. He was still as nervous as all hell. "It's... It's a really nice night," he offered, looking over at her, whole and lovely in the moonlight.

She nodded. "Yeah, it is." she agreed, looking back up at him. He looked good in moonlight. She'd seen that before, of course, but tonight he looked particularly good. But then again she'd not only been looking over at him all night because she liked him, she'd been looking over at him all night because he looked far too amazingly good. She kind of slowed along with him, the nervous feeling thrilling through her on a constant basis. It kind of felt like it was getting close to a moment where there could possibly in some reality be a kiss. Or it was her imagination, but she was less inclined than usual to hide behind that.

That was far enough. They couldn't immediately be seen from the parking lot, the road was through an expanse of trees, and they were slowing down anyhow. So, he figured now was his time. "Lullaby," he started, making his presence known as he stepped up closer to them, dropping the black magic cloaking spell he'd been employing til then. "I believe it's time to leave now."

Dean hadn't been concentrating on anything aside from her. Her and what he was and wasn't or should and shouldn't do next. That was more than enough to occupy the whole of his brain and more besides. He could have just slowed them to a stop and then maybe turned to her, or suggest that sat down or... But then the 'or' spot was filled by the quiet voice that came through the silent night and Dean turned, realising they weren't alone. And getting in the same moment that the guy behind them, not that far away, had called her 'Lullaby'. That fact and the fact that he'd talking about her leaving, was enough for Dean to step slightly in front of the girl, pulling her a little behind him.

The first Lullaby knew of anything going on was Dean moving her, and she looked confused. "Wha--" she started, then broke off abruptly. She looked past Dean to see her father standing there. It was like all the air got sucked out of the world, and she dropped her shoes, that hand latching onto Dean's forearm tightly. Dean, who she noticed had put himself between her and her father, like he did. Not fully in front but...between. Her heart gave a sick thud in her chest, and she felt just a little bit faint for a second. God...not now. Not now, not ever. Could she be dreaming? ...but she knew she wasn't. "You need to leave." she told him.

Cyril merely watched the two of them, noticing the boy's stance, but he paid him little mind. It wasn't like he had anything to worry about from some pissant little teenager who thought he wanted to play hero. "You should walk away now." he said, addressing Dean directly. "I won't harm you if you do. But I will be taking my daughter with me tonight, one way or another." he said in even tones.

Dean met the guy's gaze, guessing that this was the father. Nothing else made sense, especially not with the way Thia had gripped his arm. "Don't think so," he said, determinedly, seriously. He wasn't going anywhere and this guy wasn't taking Thia anywhere.

"I'm not going with you." Lullaby said, trying to sound like she wasn't having a heart attack. She stepped a little closer, not really wanting to be behind Dean for this. Not when she had inklings of just what her father was capable of, and the last thing she wanted was for Dean to get hurt. "Just leave. I don't want to go anywhere with you, I'm staying where I am. Just...go away." she said, voice not necessarily the most even it had ever been, but she was trying.

Cyril shook his head and stepped a little closer. "She does inspire devotion, doesn't she?" he said as he gazed at his daughter, yet addressed Dean. "But let me tell you something about devotion. It's for the blind." he said, turning his gaze back on the boy. "Don't get self sacrificial, please. This doesn't have to be messy." he said. Then he looked back at Lullaby. "I've let you have your fun. I was a bit upset after our last encounter, I have to admit, but I've come to the conclusion it's just something we'll have to work through. I'm not angry with you. But this won't be continuing. Say goodbye." he invited, gesturing to Dean.

"I'm not getting self sacrificial, but she's not going anywhere she doesn't want to go and she doesn't want to go with you. You know she doesn't - she doesn't want anything to do with you. So leave her alone," he told the guy, even though he knew it wasn't going to work. His heart was still hammering, only it was for a different reason now. He was an idiot, a total and utter fucking idiot. He'd got lazy, he'd got complacent, he'd got sloppy - he'd let himself think that because her father hadn't come for her immediately, because they couldn't find him and because they were untrackable, he wasn't going to come. But he had done - here he was and Dean knew this was going to end badly, yet clung onto that vain hope that the guy would just turn and walk away.

Lullaby moved, walking a little forward, but really it was more to put herself sort of partly between Dean and her dad. "I'm not going with you." Dean had said the rest for her so she didn't repeat. She just wanted to make it clear. And she still felt like her heart was going to hammer out of her chest, and she couldn't breathe, but...she couldn't just hide behind Dean.

"I know we've had our differences, Lullaby." Cyril started. "And I'm sorry for the way some things have gone. But I've given you a great gift, and I didn't do it idly. You can't have a life here. You're legally dead. Though--I do apologize for the condition you were left in. Some people don't understand why a specific request for small caliber ammunition is important. Though...it doesn't look as if you've been very careful with yourself since then." he noted, with a tone of disapproval in his voice. "We'll see about covering the scars. Don't worry, I will take care of you. But I'm not going to stand here and argue with you all night either. Now, come along, or there'll be consequences."

"No." Dean's voice rang out loud and clear and he strode towards Cyril, passing Thia without a glance. This wasn't going to be happening. "You killed her - you killed your own fucking daughter - do you have any idea what you've put her through? And all you can do is apologise for a fucking bullet?" he exclaimed, not believing what the hell he was hearing, not thinking about the fact that he was walking up to a guy he knew knew some fairly badass magic without a moment's hesitation. "You don't get to take care of her, she's already taken care of. So leave, now," he threatened.

Cyril drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Then, with a murmur of a spell beneath his breath, he made a negligent sort of wave at Dean, a dismissive gesture. With it, came an arc of a spell, unviewable in the darkness. It was unobtrusive, made no noise, but lanced through the space between himself and Dean, slicing into the boy's right thigh. It was a glancing sort of blow. Deep, but not bad enough to cripple him. It was a warning shot. "Stay down." he told Dean.

Dean dropped as a sudden pain lanced through his leg and it collapsed out from under him, catapulting him to the sand. He let out a cry as he went down, feeling the blood already starting to flow.

Lullaby gasped, and was immediately over to him, or that's what she tried to do, though her father was advancing very quickly, and moving to cut her off. Mostly, because he knew what fades could do, and was willing to bet his daughter would do that. Considering the scarwork he'd observed over the course of the evening, particularly. "This can be over quickly." he said. "He doesn't have to be hurt anymore, he'll get help, he'll be fine. You can even call 911 yourself, just to be sure. But you'll need to do it when we're leaving." he told her.

She already had tears sprung up, and she was shaking her head. "I'm not--don't hurt him, I don't--" sense had left the building. She had no idea what to do. She could agree to go, but would that even mean that he'd keep his word? Was Dean not hurt that bad? She'd even heard the cry. She needed to go check on him, and she kept trying to move over closer to him, and finally broke to not keep backing from her father, to go straight towards Dean.

Dean was already trying to get back up again, testing his leg to find that he could stand alright. Sure, it hurt like hell, but adrenaline overcame that soon enough. He started towards Thia, to meet her in the middle, already reaching for the gun in his shoulder holster.

Cyril sighed heavily, and made another negligent gesture towards Dean, this time it cutting through his left side. He wasn't playing around, this was getting dull, and he wanted to be out of here now. She could cry all she wanted later. Or, there were alternatives. "If you keep this up, he'll be dead inside a half hour." he said. "...fifteen minutes if he keeps struggling. If you come with me now, we'll call the hospital, he should make it. Or, if you really want to force my hand, I can do away with you both, and just come back tomorrow, but I would prefer not to." he said, advancing on Lullaby quickly this time, reaching out to grab her arm.

Dean hit the sand again, but his fingers were already closing round the hilt of the beretta and he dragged it out. Cyril's attention wasn't on him now, it was on his daughter, but Dean wasn't going to let the guy take her. He couldn't, he wouldn't, he wouldn't let him keep her a prisoner for the rest of her existence, he wouldn't let any of the things he could imagine happen, or even the chance of them happen. He wouldn't let this guy force her to do anything she didn't want. He didn't trust the man with her. The pain from his side screamed at him as he rolled slightly to half sit up. It was that easy for the guy - a negligent gesture could wound and Dean didn't doubt for a second that her father would kill him just as negligently. The only reason he was still alive was for Thia, but that could change in a heartbeat. But a heartbeat was all it took, a heartbeat in which aiming wasn't difficult, hardly took a thought as he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.

A single shot, that was all it took. A single shot, loud in the night since Dean hadn't brought the silencer out, hadn't actually thought he'd need to pull the gun he'd been wearing for anything, wouldn't have had time to fit it anyhow. A single shot through the side of the head, killing Cyril instantly.

Lullaby had been going to wrench her arm back and away, get over to Dean. She'd been going to do that. She'd been going to threaten her father with promises she couldn't possibly keep. There were a world of things that she might have done. And none of it mattered, because as she was looking up at him, there was a loud sound--familiar. She knew the sound of Dean's gun. And then she blinked as she saw her father's head cock sharply to the side, and after a moment, he dropped. She stared for a moment, down at her father. She'd had to jump back a little not to get bowled over by him. The moonlight was more than good enough to see the dark hole in his skull. It didn't look that impressive, only about the size of a silver dollar, but more than enough to have killed him. She blinked and stepped back again, before the world seemed to rush back in, and she broke to rush back over to Dean, dropping to her knees next to him in the sand. She was reaching for him, arms going around his neck to pull his back more towards her lap, so she could cradle him, and she was already trying to assess the damage. "Dean--"

Dean knew that he'd killed the man even before he'd finished pulling the trigger, but in that moment he'd also known he had no choice. He was bleeding, he was hurt - badly, by the feel of it - and they had no defence against him. None except exactly what he'd done. And then the body had dropped and Thia was by his side and the world erupted into a flash of bright white light and pain as she moved him and he realised the cry that sounded in the night was him.

God, this was bad. This was very, very bad. And she could feel the blood spilling out of him, soaking into her dress, and she hadn't even been holding onto him long. "It's okay." she promised, voice ragged, because that scream of his had seemed to tear through her. "It's okay you'll be okay." she said, not even quite recognizing she was speaking to him, as she started to draw in injury. She didn't take it all at once, not like she generally did. Because one of her biggest fears was what if something else happened? They were alone. At home...she'd known if she died, he'd be taken care of. Oz was there, Billy, everyone. But they weren't here right now. So, what if she healed him totally, bled out, and he was left by himself? She couldn't risk it. So she was pulling it in. And that meant wounds were appearing on her, sinking slowly in. She let out a pained cry of her own, as she buried her face in towards his neck.

He felt the pain start to lessen and knew what she was doing. He reached up and clutched at her, opening his eyes as his vision cleared. "Don't leave me, Thia. Please, don't leave me," he told her. He couldn't do it, he couldn't do this - if she died now, it wouldn't matter, she couldn't leave him here alone.

She kept drawing it in. A little faster. She wanted half. If she could gauge it right, then maybe they'd both be okay. That they wouldn't be in imminent danger of bleeding out. "I won't leave you." she promised, drawing in a shakey breath as she tried to block out how awful it was to be sinking in an injury at a steady but slow pace instead of getting it over with all at once. But she wasn't perfect at this yet. She wasn't perfect, she didn't know exactly how to do it, and she needed to do it right. She was clinging to him hard, and tears were running down her cheeks, though she didn't actually realize that. "I promise I won't leave you." she added, after pulling in a last quick part of his injuries. enough that she thought it might be even. She'd decide in a second. They were both bleeding, but it wasn't like he'd been doing. Not that gush out, where everything felt wet and far too hot.

His head felt light, but it was clearer now. The pain was less than it had been, though sharper for it - possibly that was helping to keep his head clear, he didn't know. He neded to move, they both did. They were sitting on a beach at the edge of town with a gun and a body. Fuck. This was bad, this was very, very bad. And they were both hurt. Fuck, fuck. "Thia - Thi. We need to go," he said, struggling to get up. "We have to get out of here."

She knew he was right, and was moving a little on automatic pilot. She helped him, or tried to. It required her to let go, and she wasn't happy about that but they were bleeding. And there was a dead man not five feet away. She got to her knees, and bit hard at her lower lip to keep in pained cries. But she was helping him, too, trying to get them both to their feet, they could lean on each other. God everything hurt. And her dad was dead, and Dean had killed someone. And she didn't know in the confusion of everything else if she should hate herself for wondering if he was okay in regards to that than feeling any fear or upset that her father was dead.

Dean wasn't even really thinking about what he'd just done. There were too many other things to do and in his usual style, he was working on automatic pilot trying to get them all done. He was still bleeding, from his back and from his leg. She would be bleeding as well from the same places and as he stood, he turned to them. "Thia that - it was a great dress, but, how easily does the skirt tear?" he asked, knowing they had to stop the bleeding and it wasn't like they had anything else around here.

"Pretty easy." Lullaby said. It had been nice material, but not exactly top of the line or anything, and she yanked the skirt up, her leg feeling a little like it was on fire, though it was mostly her back that was killing her. She started to pull, but that really killed her arm too, and she sucked in a sharp breath. She did manage to start a tear though.

He bent down to help her, tearing a wide strip off the base of the skirt and then ripping it in two. He was bleeding, but the first long strip went around her waist, pulling it tight - it wouldn't do much to pad the wound, but hopefully the pressure would help. He knew that much - pressure was good. He shrugged off his now ruined jacket, thick with blood and tied it in a similar way around his own waist, before wrapping the remaining piece of material around his leg wound. "And your leg?" he asked her, wondering if she'd taken from all over, or just the worse wound, or even if she could direct it like that.

She was bleeding, she hadn't taken just from his worst wound. So without thinking about it because now wasn't the time to be all shy, she yanked her skirt up, and looked down at the bleeding gash. She noticed absently that her dress was a lot more red now than white. Then she dropped it back down. "What about yours? I think...let's just move." she said, thinking more and more they needed to not be here. "Let's just...please let's go."

"Yeah, we're going to go, I just..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, hitting speed dial and hoping to god Caleb picked up.

She glanced around for her shoes, and spotted them, a little ways off so she went to retrieve them, limping a little as she did. Bending wasn't so happy either. Fuck...

Caleb was a little surprised when his phone rang, but he walked outside of Babylon to answer it, so he could at least remotely hear. "Yeah?" he asked, after recognizing Dean's number. He wondered what the hell Dean would be calling for, hadn't he just left? With Lullaby, even?

"I need you to come pick us up," Dean said, without any preamble at all. "We're at the beach, not far - you have the car, right? And as soon as would be good and we have a problem," he said, not sounding at all like he was willing to go into detail over the phone, not figuring that he'd have to.

"I----sure." Caleb said. "Be right there." he said, already walking out towards the lot, so he could in fact, grab his car and go figure out what the fuck was happening. He hung up on Dean, and headed off there. Which luckily was like...two seconds away. He pulled up into the parking lot, and got out, leaving the engine running. "Dean?" he called.

Once he'd called Caleb, Dean started him and Thia walking up the beach, though neither of them could go particularly fast, but it was enough that they were almost to the lot when Caleb called. "Over here," Dean called out through the night.

Caleb oriented on the words, then dropped down the hill towards the beach. "...what the fuck happened?" he asked, noticing that Lullaby's dress was a lot more red than he remembered it being twenty minutes ago, and they both looked fucked up in general. He moved to walk on the other side of Lullaby, to help them along. "Are we going to the hospital?"

Dean shook his head. "No, we're not - she can't," he reminded his friend. "But we have bigger problems - I'm sorry, but..." He kept walking Thia towards the car, wanting to get her sat down. Needing to sit down himself. "I... Her father happened," he explained after a moment.

Caleb kept helping then stopped to pull the door open on the car. "Fuck." he muttered under his breath about her not being able to be brought to the hospital. "Maybe I could bring you to MGH and...I don't fucking know. Is there another hospital nearby?" he asked, doubting it. But he also didn't know the area that well. Then he stopped. "...so where is he?"

Lullaby seemed to want Dean to sit down first. He'd lost more blood than she had. "You can take him." she said. "I'll...I don't know. But take him he should...I don't know how well I did, and he lost more blood than I did and he should go." Not that she in any way wanted to leave his side. She didn't. At all. But if it meant he could get medical attention...

"No," Dean told her. He'd meant what he'd said earlier about not wanting to be left. He still meant that. "No, I'm not - I won't, I.... No," he said, before turning to Caleb. "He's still down on the beach. That's the problem. I... We have to get out of here and there's..." There was a body on the beach. A guy he'd killed. The reality of that was beginning to hit home along with the blood loss. "I can't go to the hospital," he said - this time meaning it because he didn't want to go anywhere near anything official, not while his blood was soaking into the sand by the corpse, the man he'd just killed.

Caleb looked back out towards the beach and saw the indistinct sort of body shape out there. "....that I can deal with." he said, with almost no real hesitation. He knew exactly what he'd be doing. Then he looked back at the two of them. "Now decide if I'm driving you somewhere then dealing with the corpse, or if one of you is healthy enough not to crash the car on the way home." he said. "And please tell me that you'll have someone around who can patch you up better than you are right now. If you don't...fuck, I'll be by as soon as I can get there. If you need to be stitched up, I can do that. I've done it before. Can't promise it'll be perfect, but it'll work."

"I can drive," Dean told him, pulling Sophie's keys from his pocket and passing them over. He wasn't entirely sure that he could drive, but he would do. He'd have to. "It's a walk to my car, but - can I take this one, you can bring Sophie's up later. And - there's nobody at home." There as Billy and Maddie, but Dean didn't even know if they'd be any use at all anyhow.

Caleb grabbed the keys, and eyed his friend for a long moment. "...fine. Go. I'll be there...inside an hour at the latest, unless there are complications. There shouldn't be. But get the fuck out of here." he urged, pocketing the keys, and he headed not towards the beach, but back towards Babylon.

Lullaby for her part had been trying to push him to sitting down, and she looked at him for a long moment. "Are you sure you can drive?" she asked, reaching out to turn his face towards hers. "You're okay? You can do this?" she asked. She ticked her eyes back and forth between his, and pushed past her own issues for the moment to try and assess him entirely. Not just by touching him, feeling out his injuries, but Dean and his mental state. She knew how he got. So, she wanted to be there and doing what she needed to when he needed her to.

"I can do this, Thia," Dean told her, standing and making his way round to the driver's side, determinedly not swaying when a wave of dizziness hit, trying not to favour his injured leg too much. Getting out of here right now was more important. As much as he hated leaving it to his friend to clean up his mes, he knew that. They had to leave.