the night was not meant to go like this

who: dean and lullaby
where: halloween party in england
when: throughout the afternoon/evening

Lullaby had braved the mirror again. It wasn't something she wanted to make a habit of. But, sometimes she just needed to see her reflection for things. Like getting make up and eyeliner right. That was kind of not something you could wing and hope it looked okay. So, she'd bit the bullet and managed to face her reflection to get that done properly, to give herself the little kind of cat eye eyeliner deal. Which she'd never done before, so it took her a bit to get right. Once satisfied that she didn't look terrible or anything, she put on the rest of her costume--which included the little headband with the kitty ears on it, the little tail bit, and of course, the best piece--the collar. Made to Dean's specifications. It was red, and had a heart shaped silver tag on it. On the front, it read 'Thia', on the back it said 'If lost please return to Dean J Conway' and had his phone number listed. The scars on her throat showed a little above and below it, because she couldn't find a collar wide enough that worked. But she was assuming that there would be a dark enough environment that she wouldn't have to worry too much that someone would see and question it. If nothing else--even if people saw, it would take a brave person to actually come out and ask her. She was banking on people wanting to be polite.

After steeling herself for a good few minutes, she finally made herself leave the bathroom, and head to she and Dean's room. She hesitated outside the door for a few moments before she rolled her eyes at herself, and then slipped into the room, leaning back against the door to shut it.

Dean had gone with her suggestion of James Dean. He wasn't a big fan of costumes. Or, rather, he didn't have the self-confidence to be able to pull off something highly ostentatious. But jeans and a t-shirt with a pair of shades? That he could do. He wasn't convinced he wasn't going to have to spend the night explaining what the costume was, but at least he wasn't going to be going round in full on zombie makeup or something, so he was good with that. He looked up as he heard the door open and smiled a little as he looked her up and down, really appreciating that sight. It was... yeah. Definitely. He met her eyes. "So, you look nice," he told her, nonchalantly, though there was a definite light behind his eyes that said he was teasing with the understatement.

She giggled a bit, and pushed off of the door to walk over to him. "So do you." she said. "You'll definitely be far too cool for anyone in your near vicinity." she informed him, walking up close and she smiled up at him cutely, hands clasped behind her back. She bounced on the balls of her feet just a little, really wanting him to see what the tag said. Sure, he'd known about it and all, but still.

Dean shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans - a gesture he hadn't actually done since they'd started dating, but... He had to admit that there was still something incredibly and inexplicably compelling at seeing her dressed up like that, to his specifications. Exactly to his specifications, in fact. Right down to the colour of the collar and the shape of the tag hanging from it. And that was before he even got started on the collar and tag itself, which just, well - the whole thing made him feel like a bit of a freak, actually. Which was why he was refusing to go with his urges to reach out and touch the collar, to read what was written on there - even though he actually knew. He really didn't want to weird her out at all, so he kept his hands to himself and just... looked. "Not for you though," he said, his eyes finally ticking back up to hers. "Since you'll be around... I hope."

She noticed the kind of...almost shyish behavior he was pulling at that point, and she wasn't entirely sure how to take it. Though at the moment, she was slightly amused at least. She grinned at him, just a tiny bit impishly. "'Course I will be." she told him. "And if I'm not, it'll mean I'm lost and someone'll just have to return me to you." she added with a firm nod, watching his eyes as she said it. She also held her breath just the slightest bit, even if she told herself it was silly.

Dean took a quiet, not-entirely-steady breath, his eyes a little darker than usual. "Well - they'll know how to find me, won't they?" he said, his gaze flickering down to that collar before he dragged it back up again to her eyes. He could almost imagine someone doing that, or from his end he could - he couldn't imagine anyone actually doing it, but he could imagine taking the call and he reminded himself to take his phone with him tonight. Not that he thought... But still...

Watching him, she was sliding into the point of view that this? Was getting to him. And not necessarily in a bad sort of way. "They will." she agreed. "Says so and everything. Your name, and your number..." she told him, even if he already knew. "You might want to check though, just to be sure that it's all right." she said innocently, effecting an air of it as she did so. She kept her hands clasped behind her back, and just pushed herself up on her toes a slight bit, closer to him, head tilted a touch like she was offering the collar to him--which she was.

Dean wetted his lips with the tip of his tongue absently as he watched her do that - and then he pulled a hand out of his pocket to wipe the moisture off them again with the edge of a finger before reaching for the little silver-coloured heart. He felt like his hand was shaking, though it didn't look like it was. He just felt all nervously excited about it all. yeah, he was a freak, it was fairly official, at least in his head. he took hold of the heart and tilted it, stepping in to her a little more as he looked down at it, the red and silver against her skin, the tilt of her jawline, even the edge of her scar. He didn't say anything as he read the words, but he didn't let go, either.

She realized that somewhere in there she'd held her breath. So she made herself exhale softly, eyes up on his eyes, watching him as he looked over the tag. She didn't say anything for a few moments, biting at the inside of her lip for a second. "Well?" she asked, voice light. She might have added more there, but instead she just left it at that, waiting for him to fill in the blank--if he was going to. He wasn't seeming overly talkative at this point, after all. And really, that was fine, so long as it was in a positive way. But she'd be seeing lines if it were, and there was pretty much just the usual aura he had around himself. She she was betting things were good, just in an interesting sort of way...

Dean realised that he was staring, the single word pulling him out of his almost trance-like state and he swallowed, taking a half step back again and releasing the tag. "Erm - yeah, yeah, it... Says just what it's meant to say," he told her, his voice thick, not quite meeting her eyes.

When he took the half step back, she took the distance back by stepping into his wake, keeping them close. She ducked into his view, too, finally reaching out to tip his chin more towards hers. "And that is?" she asked, though it was a rhetorical question. "That I'm yours?" she suggested. Since really, yeah, that was it. That she belonged to him. And really, according to her...yeah. She did.

Dean shrugged a shoulder. "Well, it - doesn't quite say that..." Not that he would have minded at all if it had have done. "But, yeah. I..." he swallowed again, convinced that he was going to spend the entirety of the night just staring at her.

She moved in close, and pushed up on her toes again, to nuzzle just under his jaw where she liked to. That, up towards his ear. "You....." she prompted, not at all sure she was going to get an answer out of him. Or maybe she'd get an answer, she just wasn't sure it would be that coherent. She nuzzled at his earlobe while she was at it, because she could, and she wanted to. And right, sure, they'd need to leave here soon, but still. They had time.

As she leaned into him, he instinctively brought his hands round to hold her by the hips, steadying her as she stood on her toes. He dropped his head slightly, twisting a little, to give her better access, the change of angle meaning that he was looking straight at the side of her neck, at the contrasts there - the darkness of her hair and her costume, the paleness of her skin and through the centre, that stripe of red. He ignored her prompt as he lowered his head more and placed a kiss on her neck, just above the collar, his bottom lip brushing lightly against the leather.

She accepted that as an answer. Kisses were more than good as communication in Thia-land. She kept up what she was doing, though she tilted her head a little more, to give him whatever access he wanted. If he'd take it, that was. She wasn't entirely sure that he would, though she really wanted him to. She was fully aware that it was probably just going to frustrate the both of them a bit, but as far as she was concerned, that was okay. They'd be getting back home eventually.

He nuzzled up the column of her neck, moving his hands round to the small of her back, back of his finger brushing against the tail she was wearing tonight as his mind played out fantasies of undressing her right now. They didn't have to go out? Right? They could just stay here and play. Wrong - you have to go out and if you keep this up, you're going to be late - she was really excited about this party, remember? he reminded himself, firmly as he very reluctantly stepped back. "We should make a move," he told her, feeling gently unsteady right now.

If possibly given the choice, Lullaby might have opted to skip the party as well. She was a little more concerned with the effect this was having on Dean. She wanted to follow that out further, see what happened with it...but they had obligations. She supposed. "Mmhmm." she agreed, looking at him again. She tilted her head to the side as she regarded him. "You okay?" she asked, really wanting to follow him again, to close the distance once more. She didn't--but it was a near thing. She vaguely wondered when she'd gotten all aggressive and blamed it on the collar thing. It was possible it was making her that little touch braver than usual.

"Uhhuh," Dean confirmed, before mentally berating himself and making an effort to actually find his voice again. "It's just - if we don't leave now, we'll be late," he told her, which he really, really meant, being that he was sure that if they didn't leave now, they wouldn't be leaving for, oh, maybe a couple of hours - possibly more. Maybe never again.

She watched him recover himself there, and had to hold back a little giggle. Still, it was interesting, the sort of blindsiding that seemed to be happening. She was keeping this collar, that was for damn sure. Possibly so she could break it out should he be having a bad day or something. Letting out a little bit of a sigh, she headed towards the door, then turned to walk backwards a few paces. "Can I get a kiss before we go?" she asked. Because she wanted one of those. And as she was walking backwards, she got to appreciate the full effect of his costume too. Really, it was a pretty good look for him. He could pull it off well, anyhow. Plus she kind of thought there was something to the shades, even if it was likely silly of her or something. Or maybe they just kinda both liked dress-up in some weird way. She was okay with this.

He crossed the distance to her in a couple of long strides, absolutely fine with her request - though with the intention of keeping himself under tight control and he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, one hand in the small of her back, the other against the back of her neck, angling her properly, completely in control of the move as he stopped himself completing it by walking her backwards to push her up against the wall, which was what he knew he wanted to do, but what he stopped himself from doing on the basis that they were going to be going out tonight.

She kissed him back, liking that. The whole hand on the back of her neck, one on her back, she felt held there. She had to resist reaching up and threading her fingers through his hair--she'd already fixed it for tonight, and they were trying to do this whole halloween party thing. And Dean certainly seemed to be aware that they might be late otherwise, so he must be fairly dead set on it. Or that was her theory anyhow. Still, she threw herself into the kiss, figuring she wasn't going to be able to drag him off from time to time to get other ones during the night. Or...maybe she would. It would depend on the environment they were in, really. And his willingness to be dragged off, of course.

He made himself pull back and step away and, continuing the fluid motion, grab her hand and pull her towards the door, opening it and heading them out onto the landing and down the stairs, because he only had so much control, at the end of the day. He was toying with the idea of pushing her into a dark corner at the party later on, but then again, if she was having this effect on him already, maybe that was a bad idea. After all, given how they'd been in the middle of town the other day...

She grinned as he pulled her along behind them. And she was in fact, really hoping he'd allow himself to be dragged off. Really, she did. And she supposed she should really be thinking about other things and maybe hanging out with Jen at the party a bit, and having fun seeing the costumes, and the supposedly haunted place and everything. But her attention was really just on Dean. He was distracting, in a fun, probably wholly inappropriate kind of way. But she was good with this.

*****

Dean had no idea how Andy had garnered invites to this party - which was clearly invite only - but the guy had done it somehow, as well as hiring a limo for the evening to take them out into the Cheshire countryside. He'd definitely gone all out tonight, and the rest of them were really just going along with it. Dean didn't even really know where they'd ended up - some big old country pile, and vaguely gothic-ish, Victorian-style mansion set far enough back from the road that even he couldn't hear the traffic, it stood alone in solitary spleadour, all cunningly lit to give it the properly creepy Halloween feel. Apparently the place was haunted, but then Dean figured that almost every big old house had some legend or other that may or may not be true. And anyway, he wasn't exactly scared of ghosts and so he'd taken the news easily - which he figured had actually irked Andy.

But then again, if he hadn't been scared, Jen had looked nervous and Katie fairly terrified as they arrived a couple of hours ago. Katie who had been annoying the hell out of him since - she had stuck to his side like glue, saying she didn't want to be alone. The thing was that their little group had somehow got separated within minutes of arriving and Dean hadn't seen anything but snatches of them since, whilst Katie seemed determined to keep up a near enough constant monologue at him, which he attempted to keep up with, but - it was noisy here, there were lots of people spread around various different rooms, and music. And it was dark - he was having a really hard time communicating with her, which was how, when she pulled on his arm and turned him round, asking if he was ignoring her, he ended up giving her his entire attention, standing in a corner with her, fairly close and concentrating hard.

Katie smiled up at him, something that was slightly less tense than previously, and she reached out to pull him a little closer still, continuing to speak. "I mean, I know it's probably silly and everything, and I mean, who even really believes in ghosts? But this place is kind of creepy, and I just feel kind of creeped out in general. Do you want to go outside, maybe? Get some air with me?" she asked.

I believe in ghosts, Dean thought - though for him, it was less that he believed, or had faith - it was just that he happened to know someone who had been a ghost. He'd seen her as a manifested ghost - there was lots of ghostly things going on there. But he gave Katie a polite, if small, smile, reading what she said on her lips, his concentration entirely there. "Erm - we should probably see if we can find the others," he suggested, his eyes ticking up to meet hers as he spoke. "But, I... if you need to," he agreed, reluctantly.

"That could take forever, let's go." Katie said, grabbing Dean's arm and starting to pull him towards the nearest door. "Besides, I haven't gotten much of a chance to see you since you got back, you don't mind, right?" she asked, not really waiting for a response as she got to the door, opened it up and started to pull him out with her.

The whole Katie being attached to Dean thing was not something that went unnoticed. Really, Lullaby caught that right the hell away. And while she really would have tried to snag him and pull him off with her...she had her own leech-issues to deal with. Andy was playing the same type of thing. Apparently, he was concerned about her getting too scared or something. Which...wasn't something that was going to happen. She was kind of looking at the haunting as more a curiosity, if it was even fact. Like, was the spirit a bound one like Maddie was? Or not? Were there more than one? If there was, did they hang out and talk? Or were they independent and just wanted to be spooky at people? Unfortunately, even if Andy was telling her stories, he didn't have the information she tended to want. Like details of what might have happened or what people really reported seeing...she probably wasn't cooperating very well. Oops. She wasn't really here to do that, she was here to be at a halloween party. Glancing around for Dean again, she half tugged at the heart tag on the collar she wore, an unconscious kind of gesture, since she couldn't keep fixing it to cover her scars--she knew that it didn't fully cover. She just couldn't fully curb the impulse to reach up towards her neck to mess with something.

Andy was feeling a little frustrated - he'd done his research on this place, he'd found out about all the ghost stories, he'd done everything he could to make this night impressive, he'd pulled strings like anything and - it wasn't that she wasn't interested, because he definitely had Thia's attention. He'd just imagined that she would have been a little more, well, nervous about the whole thing. But, you worked with what you were given, didn't you, so he'd do that. "Hey, Thia," he said, leading her to a slightly more quiet spot. "Why don't we go looking? For one of the ghosts - I hear you see things in one of the bedrooms - curtains twitching and stuff. And there's the lady in the corridor. I don't think we're strictly meant to go into that part of the house, but..." he suggested, clearly fine with breaking the rules. And getting her away from everyone else, though if Katie was acting the way she'd been subtly primed for, then he wouldn't be the only one trying to get someone alone.

She was led off, though during that time she was more or less scanning the crowd for Dean. She could possibly just...tell Andy she'd be a second, and go make it clear that he wasn't up for grabs, right? Only she couldn't see him anymore, and she'd thought she'd seen him a few minutes ago...grr. How'd they get separated in the first place? She tried thinking back, and thought it had something to do with Andy coming up and pulling her off just like he was doing right now. Biting at her lower lip a moment, she got her attention back on Andy, also having to rely entirely on lip reading to understand him. His proposition was interesting, and she didn't exactly mind the idea of breaking the rules at the moment, but she would kinda sorta rather do that with Dean with her. "Shouldn't we find the others if we're going to be delinquents?" she asked. "I'm sure Dean would want to see the ghosts, if we found any..." or, maybe not, since it wasn't exactly a big Thing to either of them, with knowing Maddie, but still.

"But that could take all night," Andy pointed out, pulling Thia towards a roped off staircase, her hand firmly in his. He looked back as he talked, aware of the fact she couldn't hear in this environment. And he was good with that. "And anyway, it'd be easier to sneak just the two of us through than a whole group," he added, reasonably as he looked round and then, seeing nobody else, lifted the rope and slipped underneath, holding it up for her.

Dean looked round as he was pulled towards the door, scanning the crowd for Thia, but she was small, and there were tonnes of cats around anyhow. Popular costume choice, though most girls had, in fact, gone for sluttier versions than his girlfriend had. That said, he was willing to bet that none of them were wearing a collar round their neck with their boyfriend's name and phone number on, so for that fact alone, Thia beat them all hands down.

Katie kept tugging insistently at Dean's arm until they were fully outside, and she smiled, heaving a sigh of relief. She also kept hold of his arm as she pulled him away from the door so they wouldn't be in the way. "It's nice to get you alone for a while." she said, looking up at him out of the corner of her eye. "It's been such a long time since I've really seen you, and the other times..." she trailed off there, kind of hoping her fairy costume was just risky enough to catch his attention and hold it. She'd worn it specifically for that, after all. And she knew she was prettier and had a better figure than The Girlfriend. Andy had reassured her on that.

Dean had hoped that it would be quieter outside, and it was - just not really quiet enough for him to not have issues hearing her, which meant that he had to choose between paying attention to Katie so he could tell what she was saying, and looking for Thia. He really wanted to do the latter, but he wasn't that rude. He did, however, find himself keeping one hand in his pocket, rest on his phone, just in case - there was that number round her neck and everything, after all. Katie - he was meant to be talking to Katie, right. "Erm, yeah," he agreed, which he had to admit, wasn't the best of answers, in the scheme of things.

"I don't know if you know this, but I really missed you." Katie told him, subtly pushing her chest against his arm, just a little. Nothing too overt, she just kind of wanted to distract his attention there. Though she had noticed that he'd been staring at her lips all night. That she was taking as a good sign as well. She smiled at him, an expression she was hoping was going to give him ideas on what she meant beneath that.

Dean looked at her and took a half step back, putting some distance between them. "Erm, right," he agreed, awkwardly, wanting to add a 'you know I have a girlfriend, right?' onto the end of that - but that was self-evident, surely? It was, he knew it was, and maybe he was just reading this wrong. "So - erm, you having a good time?" he asked her, thinking that maybe actual conversation would help here.

She was a bit disappointed when he stepped back, so she just kind of half drifted after him, not quite closing the distance again, but shortening it. "I am now." she told him, in a tone that suggested it had everything to do with him. She looked down for a moment, then back up to his face. "I considered not coming, but when I was told you were going to be here..." she trailed off, reaching for his arm again.

Thia, as she ducked under the rope was wishing for the millionth time that she'd come back from the dead with useful abilities. Like say, telepathy would be cool right now. A mental 'Hey, Dean, why don't you come find me here? Now is good!' would help a bunch. But she didn't have anything like that, and she realized she needed to concentrate a bit as well since they were in a heavier shadow area and she didn't want to disappear. So she stopped her backwards scan for Dean, and tried to concentrate on the here and now, thinking maybe they could just look, not see anything, and get going. Then she could hunt down her boyfriend and stick with him, and if people thought she was rude...oh well. "So where are we going?" she asked, trying to get her mind back on the current circumstances.

Andy didn't actually really know where they were going. Usually it was Dean he relied on for this kind of thing - the guy had a good sense of direction and always seemed to be able to figure out the structure of a house like this. He was a good hound dog for finding your way around a place. But Dean wasn't here, well, not at the moment, even if he was more of the point than he usually was. The guy needed to be taught a lesson or two, that was clear. He had what was Andy's and that wouldn't do. Of course, everything Dean had was Andy's - it had been that way since they were kids. Dean just seemed to have forgotten that lately, as if the rules had changed. The rules never changed. "This way," he told her, heading towards where he thought they needed to go.

She followed along, and tried to think really really hard at Dean that really, any time now he could come find her. For real. But she resigned herself to not being the psychic one in their relationship, and he wasn't that kind of psychic either. So they were just out of luck on that. She was looking around now though, just at the building itself, which was awesome. "This place is really pretty." she noted, because she realized she'd been kinda quiet and she needed to be putting more in here. "The building, I mean. Really nice."

"Yeah, it's kinda cool," Andy agreed, walking backwards down the corridor until they reached the windows at the end. He looked out over them and smiled. "Hey, I found Dean!" he exclaimed, happily, pulling Thia toward the window so she could look out as well.

That certainly got her attention, and she stepped up right away, to look outside. At Dean. And Katie. Katie, who was way too close to Dean, thank you very much. And what were they doing outside? A troubled expression flickered over her face, even if she tried to push things back. "Do you have your phone?" she asked, seemingly randomly.

"My phone?" Andy asked, playing dumb. "Not sure, why?" he asked her, noting the expression that flickered over her face. He stepped a little closer, laying a hand on her arm. "You okay?" he asked, the picture of concern.

Nope! Not okay. Not okay at all. Because see, that down there is my boyfriend. And with him is the girl who threw a pissy bitch fit when we were out and he came and sat with me. And she's looking like she's all the fuck over him around now, or she's about to be. This in no way can be categorized under the term 'okay'. went through her head. She didn't say it, but it was kind of a near thing. She looked over at Andy, though it was hard to tear her gaze off of what was happening down below. "I--" she started, then forced a smile that really failed on all levels. "I'm okay." she said, not sounding convincing of that either. "And nevermind, I just..." she looked back down at Dean and Katie. "Thought maybe you could report me missing...it says to here..." she said, fingers lighting on the tag again. She didn't want to doubt anything, and mostly right now she was busy thinking that if she could open up the window, dissolve herself down, drop out said window then manifest again at the bottom, she could go tell bitch to back up off of her man. But she didn't know if that actually worked, and plus--hello flagrant display of abilities people just didn't have. "But that's kind of crazy of me, isn't it. Nevermind." she added on the end, even if she really wanted to do that. She'd feel like a stalker. And a crazy girlfriend at that. But her insecurities had just been really sharply kicked, and she was thinking about before they'd left for the party, and how he'd backed up from her, and maybe? Maybe he hadn't been having a good reaction, and she'd misinterpreted. Maybe he was backing off because he found the whole thing really weird when actually faced with it, and this was all just something fucked up and wrong and strange and she never should have even started on this track in the first place. Dean...Dean who was so concerned with being 'normal' here. In appearances...

Below them, Dean was internally flailing as Katie kept on at him, touching his arm and stepping a little closer. "Erm, Katie..." he started, wondering what the hell was going on. Had she had too much to drink or something? Maybe that was it. He wondered if that was really the case - whether she was only here because of him. And, if so, what the fuck that meant - because he was really thinking it wasn't simply that he'd been away. And yeah, he knew now that she'd once had a thing for him - but that had been a 'once', hadn't it? As in, past tense here...

"What?" Katie asked innocently. She smiled. "Dean, I just...I really missed you. And there were things I never got to tell you, and things we never got to do..." she started, pulling him closer by the arm she had hold of. "And with the way things are going..." she added. Andy'd told her things might not be so good between he and the american girl. That he might not be being treated so well. That she ordered him around, and Dean just did it, and people only really did that when they were henpecked. A lot of things, she'd been told.

"He... Oh," Andy said, breaking off what he was saying as he watched the scene below. Well, Katie was working out very well now, wasn't she. Andy let the silence drift for a little, internally smug that his calculations had worked out. Really, this whole thing had hinged on the fact that Dean was too much of a nice guy sap to actually tell Katie to fuck the hell off. He was probably panicking right about now, if Andy knew his friend. Which he did, very very well. After all, he'd helped nuture all those insecurities and issues over the years. "Look, I, er... This is..." He looked awkward and like he really wished he wasn't in this situation. "Katie's really nice and all, but..." he trailed off, looking back down at the scene again where Dean had both of his hands on Katie's arms - they really were standing very close together. It was impossible to hear what was being said.

"But she likes throwing herself at people's boyfriends?" Thia asked, frowning more. Again, she felt like she was seeing something she shouldn't. She definitely wish she wasn't seeing it, for obvious reasons, but it felt like spying. Or like cheating, like she wasn't meant to be seeing anything like this, and it was all kinds of uncomfortable. She trusted Dean, really she did. She just...there were insecurities that rattled around her mind. Little ones that had voices that hadn't been stamped down quite yet. Like Katie was a really, really pretty girl. Who happened to be girlshaped and everything. And her outfit was kind of...provocative. That was an appropriate word. And Dean had liked her before. And quite obviously, Katie still carried a huge torch. She closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to center herself and quiet down all the little voices in the back of her head. The kicked up painful twitches that Dean's mom had prodded back into life yesterday. The self image issues she already had and kept having, because she just...didn't know anymore. And seeing her reflection earlier had not helped that either. His quiet and such before they'd left...it all kind of played in to give her a hollow pang in the chest. Dean's not the kind of guy to do anything like cheat. He's really not. This is Dean you're talking about. The guy who sets up more rules for himself than whole societies have for their people. And he loves you. And okay, you're not ideal. But he loves you. He's said so and everything. Of course, that little internal pep talk didn't do anything to shut up the voice that said no, he wasn't the kind to cheat, which only meant if what went on down there was like, say, out of her nightmares, he'd be finding her shortly and saying they Needed To Talk. Stupid fucking voice. And it was stupid, and she knew that, because it was Dean. And he was hers.

"Not really no," Andy told her, then winced a little. "I mean - not, well..." He paused, as though he wasn't sure whether or not to finish off that sentence. "...Not without encouragement," he finished, watching her face, carefully out of the corner of his eye. "Sorry," he added, sounding honestly apologetic. Then again, what he'd said then was perfectly true - Katie wasn't the type of girl to try something without encouragement. It had been so easy before to convince her Dean wasn't interested for that very reason. But tonight, well, tonight she had had encouragement - it was just that it hadn't come from Dean. It had come from Andy.

Lullaby looked back down at the yard, where things were looking extremely close. Way far into inappropriate land. The border had been left behind. She looked away, and didn't say anything for a few moments, before she turned and walked away from the window. Her arms had come up to hug herself, and she was trying to sort her head out. The whole encouragement thing didn't sound like Dean. Because this was Dean. Dean, who just...didn't do that. The boy didn't have the confidence to. He barely did with her, and they were together. Hell, they were more than together, they'd gone straight in for that L word thing. So trying to even consider the idea that Dean for some random reason had grown a brand new set of balls that enabled him to give some chick the impression that random forays into getting up close and personal land...her brain just wouldn't accept that. Her own insecurities? Yeah. This all preyed on those heavy. But the idea that Dean was down there doing 'encouraging'? Either Katie had to be misreading some things on a fairly huge scale--not outside the realm of possibility, or whatever was happening wasn't what it looked like.

"Did you... want to see if we can find our way down there?" Andy suggested, hesitantly. He wondered how successful Katie would actually be. After all, he was fairly sure that Dean had been majorly interested at one point. Course, the guy had hidden it well - especially once Andy'd started dating her. Dean was such a good friend - he'd never look at another guy's girl. And he honestly thought the entire world worked like that - like one big happy, chivalrous family. Fool that he was.

Lullaby thought about that, and glanced back towards the window, but not out it. She'd need to walk a lot closer to it to see again. "I'm pretty sure if we go down there right now, I'm going to punch the girl." she said. It was honest, too, which surprised her a bit, but she would. right now? Yeah. She would really want to pull that girl back and at the very least give her a black eye and something to think about next time she wanted to start pawing other people's boyfriends. There was that little bright spark of possessiveness that was burning merrily in the back of her mind, but hi! This was an invite only party. They'd all get kicked out. And Dean was so worried about what everyone thought...plus she was still battling her own insecurities on everything. Like wondering if maybe Katie wouldn't be the better choice for him...

Andy winced and put a hand on her arm. "Well - would you like a drink or something then?" he asked, offering her an alternative. He wondered what he'd be able to get away with if he managed to get her well and truly drunk. Could be very interesting to find out, he decided. And he figured she'd seen enough anyhow. Enough to kick up what he hoped were problems. More than problems, given that he wasn't done yet.

Thia thought about it. And then figured what the hell. It wasn't like there was any driving to be doing...and even if there was? She didn't drive. So...there wasn't any real reason not to. God, when had been the last time she'd drank? The party where she'd hooked up with Joshua? Maybe. "Yeah, a drink would be good." she said, telling herself going over to the window wasn't going to do her any favors. And demanding Andy loan her his phone wasn't good either. Actually, right now, Andy kind of seemed to be being okay, which was good, because she really didn't think she could handle him being an idiot right now.

Andy led her back downstairs, all talk of ghosts forgotten and he stepped round any talk of Dean as well - though that he didn't manage to do so smoothly as he talked at her. Well, it was natural to want to talk about the one person they had in common, right? So he'd start up talking, then reach the typical subject of Dean, and then change tack, not actually mentioning his name, but managing to keep the idea of him firmly There.

Outside, meanwhile, Dean was definitely panicking now. He'd tried talking about Thia, but that seemed to be being largely ignored, and anyway, he wasn't really equipped to handle these situations. Fighting monsters, yeah, he apparently improved when he did that, he focused down and got through it easily. Women? made him fall to pieces, especially when they were a girl who was all flirty and pressing up against him and smiles and stuff. "Bit cold outside, isn't it?" he suggested. "erm - we should... go back in."

Katie didn't look so entirely enamored with the idea of going inside. "I could warm you up." she said, putting her arms up around his neck and hugging herself to him. She laughed a little, grinning at him, as seductive a look as she had in her arsenal. "I'd rather stay out here with you." she told him. Maybe she just needed to go for it with him. He was shy. She knew he was shy, or he had been before, and all. So, maybe she just needed to pull out the stops. And in just a second, if he didn't respond on his own? She would. She'd make things unignoreable. She'd make it so he couldn't misinterpret.

Okay, that was taking it a step too far. Dean reached up and unhooked her arms from around his neck and pried her off him, stepping firmly back out of her personal space. "No. thanks. But no," he told her, firmly, wishing to god that Thia would just miraculously appear and save him right now. She could do that, right? Wasn't she meant to be being all possessive and stuff? Any time she wanted to do that, he was game.

Shit. Well, here went nothing. "Dean, you just have to give things a chance." Katie said, and, shoving her own insecurities aside, remembering what Andy had told her, about making moves, and about how he might be a little resistant at first, but to keep going, she grabbed him and pulled him in for a kiss. And, she wanted to make it count, so she gave him as in depth a kiss as she could manage.

At first, Dean didn't react - he was rather in shock that she'd just kissed him. Sure, she'd been coming on particularly strong, but he hadn't thought... It made him question how he'd been coming across. Which he'd thought was heavily 'not at all interested', but... God, he didn't understand women. Apparently, when he was interested, they were totally clueless, across the board. And when he wasn't? He couldn't get rid of the damn things. he recovered after a moment and pulled back, fighting her off a little and taking a good couple of steps back. "Katie, fuck - stop it!" he exclaimed, a look of disbelief on his face as he finally cracked and raised his voice a little.

Katie looked shocked. She looked stricken, like he'd just hit her. She was let staring at him wide eyed. "But--" she started. "I thought, and Andy said--" she stuttered, face pinching up as she was ready to burst into embarrassed tears.

Those last two words were equally like a slap in the face to Dean, who went very white. "...What?" he asked, going very, very still all of a sudden. The world around him seemed very quiet, yet everything in it he could hear with absolute clarity, each individual noise, interweaving with each other, a wall of sound that seemed to be all there was in the entire world and, right in the centre of that, the sound of his own heartbeat as it started to race.

Katie didn't say anything, hugging her arms to her chest, and she turned, trying to walk away. "Nevermind. I'm so stupid." she mumbled, already reaching up to wipe at her watering eyes. God, she needed to get out of here right now. Ten minutes ago probably, before her humiliation had really kicked in.

The sight of the tears kicked Dean back into the real world and everything slammed back in again in a rush. "Katie..." he said, heading after her and pulling her round. "You're not stupid," he told her, borrowing the line Thia told him, often several times a day. "I just - I have a girlfriend. I'm sorry," he told her.

Katie looked away, then back to Dean, reaching up to wipe at her eyes again. "Yeah, a girlfriend who orders you around. And you just...do whatever she says." she said. "And one who's basically just stringing you along. You're too trusting, Dean, it's--It's a good point for you and everything, it's really sweet but she's taking you for a ride! Hell, the second your back's turned, she's been flirting with Andy a ton, he's tried to dodge it, but there's only so much you can do without being really rude, and he didn't want it to come between you and him! Well, he doesn't have to say it, I will, she's just--she is not good enough for you, and she's just a lying, manipulative bitch. And beyond all that? She's just weird, Dean. And maybe the other guys and stuff are too nice to say anything, but everyone's noticed." she told him. "There's nothing good about you and her. You just...you deserve better."

Hey, that's my fucking girlfriend you're talking about, Dean thought to himself, bristling at hearing Thia called that, but although he opened his mouth to say it as well, what actually came out was a very small "It's not like that," instead as his inner flailing at seeing someone with tears in their eyes kept control of a large part of him. Tears were bad enough, but if he shouted at her - she might actually start to cry and he couldn't handle that, not at all. Especially not when that would be entirely his fault.

"Yes, it is." Katie said, looking away again. "You're just too blind to see it." she said, and there was a note of bitterness to her tone. "Like you never saw it when anyone liked you. Like you never saw it when I did, and I still do." She crossed her arms over her chest, and continued looking away, trying to get herself to stop tearing, and she was marginally successful, but not entirely. "She's no good for you. She's just messing with your head. She's probably in there right now trying to get Andy to find someplace private with her."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Dean told her, though his voice still wasn't as firm as it could have been. What Katie was talking about - that sounded like a completely different person to Thia. He couldn't believe any of it, but what was still there, still echoing in his head was the 'Andy said' of it all. Why would Andy say any of this if he didn't believe it? Why would Andy lie to him? But if he believed that Andy was telling the truth, that meant Thia had lied to him and he couldn't believe that either.

"No, you don't know what you're talking about." Katie said. "You just don't see it, she's got you completely wrapped around her little finger, and you don't even know it! I mean, how well do you know her, anyways? We've known you for years, she's known you for what, a couple months tops?" she said, hoping that would put things into perspective. "We're your friends, we're just...trying to look out for you. Or, I am, and Andy is. Everyone else is too chicken to say." Besides Jen. Jen didn't have anything bad to say about Thia, and actually had taken to defending the girl when they were talking about her. And Stu didn't seem to join in either, so much.

Dean shook his head. You don't know me at all, any of you, he thought. They didn't know him, not really - not like Thia did. They didn't know anything about either of them, who they were, what they'd been through, how they were together. "I can look out for myself," he told her, his voice stronger now. "And I know her better than you'll ever realise." And if I'm wrapped round her little finger, then that's because it's where I want to be - and that works both ways, he thought, but actually retained enough presence of mind not to say - he doubted it would help anything very much.

Katie shook her head, looking back at Dean for a long moment. "It's your funeral." she said, starting to head into more angry than anything else. "And we'll all be here when she screws you over and you finally get it." she said. "I just don't know why you're not trusting us. Your friends. Why you're not trusting Andy. He's been scrambling, trying to watch out for you this whole time and you're just going to..." she broke off, and turned away. "I need a drink. Come find me later if you actually want to talk rationally, or don't want to spend your time being a damn puppy." she said.

Dean let her go, feeling like he needed to go for a walk, clear his head. He didn't get very far, though - a few yards before he turned on his heel and headed back toward the house, deciding that what he needed wasn't air - no, what he needed was to find Andy and figure out that the fuck was going on here.

Inside, Andy had gotten them drinks, (the first of which Thia had killed, so she was on her second), and they'd gone back upstairs. Where he was talking with her, and trying to be comforting. Or, that's what it seemed like, anyhow. Thia was kind of...in her own head. Working things out. She didn't so much need the comfort as she needed a good few minutes to clear her head, and then go find Dean. And try not to punch Katie. Punching Katie would be bad. As Andy touched her shoulder, she shrugged his hand off a little, finally noticing more that she'd done that like three times now. "Andy..." she started in a kind of lightly warning tone, taking another drink.

Andy had watched the speed in which she'd killed her first drink, and that she was getting through her second. And he knew she wasn't really a big drinker - he talked a lot, but he also listened and he picked up that kind of thing. Useful information, he kept that tucked away. And, because of that, he didn't pay that much attention to her 'warning' him. She had to be getting fairly drunk by now. "Thia..." he said, taking her warning tone and giving it back with a playful, flirtatious edge to it.

She frowned, looking at him a moment. And it was true. There was a little color in her cheeks, and because she generally didn't eat anything unless there was occasion to specifically, it wasn't like there was anything in her stomach to cut the alcohol with. But she still didn't want him touching her. That was a bit too familiar, thanks, especially for a guy who had made it clear before that 'no' wasn't an acceptable answer. She finished off the rest of her second drink in one shot, thinking maybe going back downstairs might be good. "Maybe I should go find Dean." she said, looking towards the door. That might help. Or...something. She didn't know. But she was thinking Dean being around would be good. Even if she did try to take a swing at Katie, especially if the girl was still clinging onto him. Grr.

Andy's hand tightened around her shoulder, stopping her from getting up. "Maybe you shouldn't" he suggested. "Maybe you should just stay here, with me." He didn't want her leaving, and anyway, nobody chose his best friend over him. That wasn't how it worked, that wasn't how the game was played. And Dean and this girl didn't get to change the rules. He made the rules - he made all of them. They were his rules.

Lullaby frowned, and finally turned her gaze fully on Andy. "Maybe you should get your hand off of me." she said, the light warning tone now sliding into full warning. She tried pulling back again, standing up, not that she was the steadiest person in the world just then. No matter what was going on with Dean, or with Katie, or anything else--this? Was not where she wanted to be. Definitely no.

Andy kept a hold of her, moving with her slightly so that he stayed close, though he didn't let her totally get up either. He turned a charming smile on her. "Come on, Thia, don't be like that," he said, putting his other hand on her waist, moving closer. "I know you like me - you always have. There's always been something between us..."

The first thought through her head was what??. She stared at him, blinking, and she struggled a little bit, to step back, get farther away from him. "What are you even--I don't like you, Andy, that's--I'm with Dean, remember? Back off.." Fear started to spike through her. Her heart rate sped up, and she actually started thinking about her situation. She was alone, in a room at a party where the room? Was off limits so it wasn't like someone was going to come barging in any moment just by accident. Shit...he wouldn't...he just really needed to let go.

"So - and Dean's downstairs with Katie, remember?" Andy pointed out, not letting her go and stepping very firmly into her personal space, pressing up against her. "Come on," he wheedled, lowering his head and kissing at her jawline as his hand slipped from her waist to her ass. "You know you want to..."

Oh fuck no. That was not at all in any way allowed, and what the fuck? "Andy stop!" This was it. somewhere, in the back of her mind, she recognized something. This was why she'd taken Dean up on the offer of pretending they were dating. Because of this. That little thread inside of her that had been getting really, really worried about Andy's apparent inability to take 'no' for an answer, his total blindness to the fact that she was emphatically not interested. She struggled for a moment more. "Fucking--let go!" she said, and she actually a second later tried to slap him. Which really, worked out better when one had slightly less alcohol in their system, and when one was farther away from the person they were trying to slap. It was a leverage problem. She did, however, manage it. And oh shit. She'd slapped him. Somewhere in her, she realized she may actually have to fade out to get out of here. ohgodohgodohgod

Andy jerked back as she slapped him, though he didn't actually let her go. "Bitch," he spat, before tilting his head and looking at her, his expression changing again. "Or is it that you just like it like that? That it, huh? All trussed up with a collar round your neck - you like being treated like that, huh?" he asked, moving in closer again, firmer this time, running a hand up her side.

For an instant there, Lullaby was more scared than she'd been in a long, long time. And this was up against things that required Dean to be shooting things. This felt more like when the vampires had her outside, when she'd gotten her throat ripped out. How they'd had her and were making her wave at the house with the broken wrist. She tried wrenching away one more time, not getting herself free, and then closed her eyes. Because this was not happening to her again. Anything that made her feel like this--nonononono. She'd gotten better at it recently, and while her concentration wasn't great? She still managed to fade out. It wasn't long, it was just enough for her to scramble backwards before she was back again, shifting right back into solid form.

She was there - and then suddenly she wasn't and Andy lost his balance, since he'd been leaning into her. The sudden loss of support made him stumble and fall flat on his face, stunned and disorientated. He looked up, surprise clearly written on his face. "What the hell?"

She was backing up towards the door, not even sure where she planned on heading there, and that terrified thing? Was still gripping her system. Around now, she was really hoping Dean paid attention to the heart monitor. Then she wondered if he even had it tonight, she couldn't remember, and where was he anyways? "You---you stay the hell back." she said, glancing behind herself, half tripping over a chair that she backed into.

Andy was still trying to work out what the hell had happened there, and how he suddenly ended up on the floor. He didn't try and get up, still orientating himself as he looked up at her. How the hell had she slipped out of his grasp like that anyhow?

Lullaby backed up until her back hit the wall, and she kept staring at Andy. It was all pretty much crashing in on her then. Everything she'd thought about the guy. Everything she'd tried to tell herself she was just overreacting on. No. No and no. And it kind of ebbed back the fear, and lit up the anger. "This is what you did, isn't it." she said. "This isn't the first time you've done this. You--he never had a girl, because you took them, didn't you." Like she'd been thinking at the bar, when she'd been talking to the girls. How they'd brought his name into things. Andy said this, and Andy did that.

Andy picked himself up off the floor, brushing his hair back away from his face and collecting himself. "You don't know what you're talking about - I didn't 'take' anything." No, it had all been his to start with - everything that was Dean's. If he'd really wanted it, he would have said something, and he never did - but then, Andy had trained him that way, hadn't he? It all worked so well, the guy knew his place in the scheme of things. "Dean was always happy with what he had."

"Was he." she said, still staring at Andy. "And why was he happy with that, Andy?" she asked. "Because you put in his head to be? Like everything else? Like with all your little digs, and the way you push him out of things, and put the spotlight on yourself? Like you tried with me?" she asked, though it was more or less rhetorical.

"And you call yourself his best friend?" Andy laughed. "If you claim to know him that well, you'd know Dean hates being in the spotlight - he wants to hide in the shadows, always has. Dean pushes himself out of things," he pointed out. "You try and make it any other way and he panics. He's his own fucking worst enemy. You think I stole girls from him? He chased them away, just by being him. That's not my fault. I tried to get him to do things differently, but he just didn't get it," he told her, the lies dripping easily off his tongue.

"Yes, he is his own worst enemy. Right next to you." Lullaby said. "How'd he get that way, huh? How'd he start thinking that he wasn't good enough? You know I catch them. He doesn't all the time but I do, when you talk down about him. You're subtle but you're not that subtle. And what about all the stories I heard, about how you just happened to come in and tell people he wasn't interested? Or were there to distract their attention? What, you not like that he could get the attention without actually trying for it? Without having to play the attention whore game?"

Andy raised an eyebrow. "You really think he's that stupid?" he asked, knowing that he definitely thought so. Dean: stupid, naive and oh so easy to manipulate - always wanting to think the best of his friends and ready to think the worst of everyone else. It didn't take much to tweak that. Andy hadn't done it out of jealousy, or that he didn't like Dean - he'd done it just because he could. Because it was easy.

"No, I think he's that honorable." she snapped. "I think all you had to do was put the idea out there that you had a claim on someone and he would back right off. And I think that you just kept at it, all the little digs, everything, so that he eventually just stayed down. There was the hissy fit you threw when we first got here, to make him feel bad, there was that bullshit 'injury' at the park..." She kept her eyes on him. "And this? With me? It's got nothing to do with me. Not even you are that much of a fucking moron to not have caught that I am not in any way interested. So what exactly is the plan here, Andy? What, try and get me drinking, try to get me to pass over to you?" she asked. "Or just enough to make a good show of it for Dean's eyes? Enough to ruin things?"

"I don't have to stand here and fucking listen to this," Andy told her. What did she think he was? Some fucking comic book villain that was going to break down and confess to shit just because he got called on something? Fuck that, he started towards her, intending to walk past her out of the door.

"You're not going to listen to this--after you weren't looking like you were going to take 'no' for an answer from me?" she asked, just staring at him, and she shook her head. "I'll cut this short--stay away from him." she said. "And don't ever come near me again either."

Andy laughed and shook his head. "Sure, whatever - good luck getting home, by the way," he said, as he headed out of the room, leaving her alone.

Lullaby drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then slid down the wall. They should have just stayed at his house. This really didn't encourage her to be social...oh, like ever again. Bad, bad night. And she wanted Dean. And she half wondered what Andy was going to say to him, should he find Dean first. And if Dean happened to still be with Katie. Fuck.

Dean was getting increasingly irritated. Since he'd left Katie, he'd been fairly single-mindedly looking for Andy, wanting to talk to the guy, but he hadn't been able to find him. He'd eventually found Jen and Stu and they'd said they'd seen Andy with Thia earlier on, and they'd been talking about the ghosts in the house, but that had been a couple of hours back. By the time Dean had figured that they were nowhere to be found, the loud music in the main rooms was really starting to get to him and he had a dull, throbbing headache that he was really hoping wasn't going to turn into a migraine - that really wasn't helping his mood either.

It was only when he overheard some of the staff talking about how they thought some people had slipped the cordons and headed upstairs that Dean considered to check the places you weren't meant to go. Getting up wasn't that hard, just a matter of waiting for the right moment, and there were a couple of different staircases heading for the upper floors.

It was quiet, once he was upstairs. Quiet and mostly dark as he walked down the corridor. He could hear voices coming from one of the rooms up ahead and he sped up as he recognissed them, realising he'd found the people he was looking for. He stopped, though, just outside the room as he listened to the discussion, hearing everything with far too much clarity. He didn't move as Andy wrenched the door open and walked straight into him, a couple of paces into the corridor.

Andy looked at him, something flickering across his face for a moment before he recovered, quickly. "Your girlfriend's fucking insane, mate. Throwing accusations around - she's unstable. Doesn't want anyone else near you. Apparently your friends aren't good enough for her - thinks she's the be all and end all."

Lullaby barely heard speaking tones. Andy, even if she couldn't quite make out what was being said. So she moved, and turned, leaning in the doorframe. She saw Andy there, and Dean, just beyond him. She said nothing for the moment, just looking at Dean.

Glancing back over his shoulder at her, he turned back to Dean. "Telling stories, too." he said, still looking back at Thia before he turned back to Dean. "She th..."

"Andy," Dean said, cutting right through whatever the guy had to say, his voice firm and clear and his eyes batted passed him to meet Thia's gaze for a moment, then rested back on Andy again. He wasn't in the mood for this right now, and with Katie's stories earlier on, he'd hoped to talk to Andy and find there'd been some kind of misunderstanding on Katie's part, but with Andy launching straight into that? Things weren't looking good. "What did you say to Katie?" he asked, his voice very very serious.

"Katie?" Andy asked, giving Dean a lightly confused look, and he wasn't overwhelmingly pleased to have been cut off, either. "Nothing, why? I was saying something, your girl here--"

"Why?" Dean asked, cutting him off again and taking a step forward. "Because she says you've been saying things. About me. About Thia." He looked over at Thia again, an expression of apology flickering across his face, even though this wasn't really his fault. He'd hoped not to have to talk to him in front of her. He looked back to Andy again, who was standing his ground. "She seemed to think I was still interested. She seemed to think that... Thia was, well, using me. And a lot of other things that are just entirely bullshit. And I want to know where she got those ideas from. Andy."

Things clicked into place for Lullaby right then. Yeah, she could definitely see that happening. Andy, trying to set things up. Set them both up, apparently. ...and with people a little less solid than she and Dean were? It probably would have worked. Her jaw set, and she hugged her arms up around herself, but she didn't say anything. Even with Andy trying to interject that she'd thrown herself at him.

"Look, Dean," Andy started, tone somewhere between placating, and 'here let me level with you'. "I didn't want to tell you these things, but your girlfriend--she really is crazy. The things she was just saying, what she was trying to do with me here, I barely got her off of me. Maybe Katie was just saying what she's seen. Trying to look out for you, like I am."

Dean's gaze went back to Thia and he wondered if she could hear what Andy was saying about her. Really, he hoped not, it was bad enough for him to hear her called crazy. And how anyone could call Thia crazy anyhow, that - none of this made sense, he didn't believe any of it and there was just a deep, dull throbbing at the back of his head and he could feel the anger building at being messed around.

Thia was getting kind of a broken version of what Andy was saying. She wasn't catching everything, but kind of catching enough. Enough to know that Andy was in fact, trying to turn everything around on her, which she expected. When Dean looked back over at her, met her gaze, she finally said something. It was just a simple phrase, really, but it would tell Dean pretty much everything that he'd need to know about what had been going on with them. "I had to fade out to get away from him." was all she said.

It did. It told Dean everything he needed to know. And he believed her without a doubt. And he knew how bad things would have had to get for her to do that, he knew how much she just... didn't do that. Not on purpose. Not where she could be seen. Not with people who didn't know. He turned back to Andy. "You fucking bastard," he ground out, his hand clenching into a fist by his side.

Andy blinked. He'd been confused what happened a minute ago in the first place, and this was not how things were meant to be going. She wasn't meant to have resisted, Dean wasn't meant to have not been sidelined by Katie--none of this was going according to plan, and seeing Dean looking at him like that was definitely not part of the plan. They'd gotten into fights together but Dean wouldn't ever dare to take a swing at him, and most certainly not off of the word of some stubborn girl. He took half a step back, frowning. "You're actually going to take her word over mine? I'm your best friend!"

"No - my best friend wouldn't make a move on my girlfriend," he told the guy. "Wouldn't do that in the first place, but... No guy would make a move on a girl who doesn't want it," he said, hating his imagination, hating that he could imagine what had to have gone down for Thia to feel like she had to resort to that in the first place, she had to fade out in front of someone who didn't know. He looked back at Thia, checking her up and down, looking for signs that she was hurt at all. If she was hurt, he'd...

She saw him looking her up and down, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered what he would do if she was hurt. Probably Not Good things. Physically, she was fine. Mentally, there was a little less fine going on.

Andy's jaw set, as he saw Dean looking over at Thia like he was looking for evidence. His eyes narrowed as he glared at Dean, his own fist balled up a little and he tensed. "I was just giving the bitch what she wanted. Look at her. She likes playing the little tease, likes it rough." He looked back at Thia, then back to Dean. "She was begging for it. Maybe you just aren't giving her what she needs."

Dean had always been defensive where Thia was concerned, and today was no exception. Neither was his habit of bounding over the edge in his reactions as he turned and pummelled his fist round into Andy's face at full force, knocking the guy backwards. He didn't wait either as he followed it with a left hook to the guy's side.

Andy had been half expecting it, and was a little shocked at the same time. He hadn't, deep down, really thought Dean had it in him. Not to take on him. Though now that it was started, he was going to pour all of his frustrations into it. He'd had enough of this shit. Dean had forgotten his place, and if he wasn't going to fall in line other ways? he'd just have to the hard way. So, even if he was knocked back, and rattled a little, he turned right back and threw his own punch, not caring by this point if they were booted from the party or anything else.

Lullaby, for her part, stood straighter and clapped a hand up over her mouth, eyes going wide. Sure, she'd seen the blackness coming off of Dean in waves, starting to edge up into a mushroom cloud of it, but still. And while she knew he'd gotten into a fight over her before, it was a bit different to actually watch it happen.

Dean was seeing red now - and he'd never been particularly good at remembering that the other guy was fighting back anyhow. He got into fights when his emotions were running high - rationality tended to go out of the window entirely at such times. And so Andy's punch smacked him hard across the cheek, throwing him back a little. Dean, though, rebounded well, throwing himself at Andy and pushing the guy backwards, driving him towards the wall, intent on nothing else but beating the living crap out of him.

Andy was having a little trouble keeping up. Because he was still processing information, like Dean fighting him and fighting him pulling out stops. He'd never been in this position before, and really, even the fights he'd got into, he'd generally started them, but see then other people joined in to help him out. Like Dean. So finishing fights wasn't necessarily his forte. Right now it had better be though, and he kicked and punched, getting slammed back into the wall before he went for a right hook to Dean's eye, or that's what he was aiming for, anyhow.

Dean's vision blurred for a moment as the punch impacted on the side of his face and he knew he couldn't keep this up, but he didn't care what state he came out of this in. And anyway, he'd always been better in a fight that his best friend - that had been why Andy had always needed him to step up in the first place. And Dean had. Every. Single. Bloody. Time. He emphasized each word with a punch to some part of the other guy's body , impacting him back into the wall each time. He'd always been there for Andy. Always - and this was how he was repaid? This?

Andy got a few punches in, but he was as a matter of fact, out matched. And at a disadvantage, at that. He doubled over, knocked back into the wall again before he took another punch to the cheek, and it was around then that he started trying to deflect blows more than deliver them. He tried to kick Dean's knee out from beneath him, but it didn't hit quite how he wanted it to and another hit back against the wall had the world going a little fuzzy.

Dean felt Andy start to go under him, but didn't let up on him. All those years, when he'd been nothing but a good friend, all those times he'd taken a back seat, all those things he'd forgiven this guy for, written things off as it just 'being Andy', how he was. And now this - now... No, he couldn't, this wasn't - it was all coming out now, so he kept on hitting.

Thia watched, kind of at a loss for what to do. part of her thought that Dean really actually needed this. On some level, to just...get it out. It had to be cathartic at least on some levels. She saw red in there. Blood, somewhere. Who's she was entirely unsure. When Andy really started to go down, she stepped a little closer. "Dean..." she said, just that, just the one word to try to catch his attention.

His name seemed to come from a distance. He heard it, but it seemed ignorable right now, but still, he slowed up, taking a step back, but he didn't actually stop.

She watched as Andy definitely went down, no longer hitting back at all, or doing such a great job at defending himself. He was probably going to be out for the count here in a few seconds. She stepped closer, knowing if she didn't stop him, later he was going to be hurting for it. Not physically, though she was expecting to have to patch him up, but probably mentally. Emotionally. He'd felt guilty over beating up a guy who'd threatened to out her to the entire school. And while this she didn't think had so much to do with her, she still knew him. ...also, an aggravated assault charge right now wouldn't be good. Add on top of that possibly trespassing, at someplace where that might actually mean something... She put a hand on the back of his shoulder, and said his name a little more clearly. "Dean." She pulled a little on his shoulder--she didn't think that he'd do anything like swing at her or anything, but she didn't want to pull him back too fast either, not with the blackness she was already having trouble seeing through, being as close as she was.

The touch and the repeated word did the trick as Dean finally stepped properly back and turned to her, black eye already forming enough that he was having difficulty seeing out of his right eye, a split on his left cheek as well as on his lower lip, which was trickling blood. He licked that away, absently, then realised what he'd done and cringed slightly. He didn't say a word as he just looked at her, finally coming out of the red mist of rage he'd been locked into.

She was looking at him, seeing the damage, though part of her was feeling it more than seeing it, though the blackness was starting to ebb back a little. She reached up, looking at his eye, and then she just pulled him into a hug, arms going up around his neck. She tried not to do it too tightly, because of the whole him having just been in a fight thing, but still. It felt important. That and since she'd looked out the window she'd wanted to run and cling to him. Even more so with what Andy had tried to pull. What...well. Might have happened, she had no idea how far he would have taken that.

Dean hugged her to him tightly, even if she was trying to be gentle. Sure, his ribs hurt like hell, but right now, he didn't care about that. "You okay?" he asked her, laying his head on her shoulder, facing her ear. That was his priority right now. That probably should have been his priority all along, he realised as he came down. Not making Andy pay - making sure she was alright. That should have been more important to him.

She closed her eyes, and wondered if that was even a relevant question right now, being he was obviously going through a whole lot. Plus--bleeding. Bruised. He was going to be hurting tomorrow. Of course, Andy was going to be hurting a lot worse. She did give up on trying to be gentle though with the way he hugged her. "Are you?" she asked in return. "I'm okay we'll...we'll talk later, right now...are you?" They probably needed to get him ice. They definitely needed to find a bathroom. Or something, she didn't know. She just knew that she really, really wanted to be taking care of him around now.

He drew back enough that he could look at her, meeting her eyes as best he could as he reached up with one hand and pushed her hair back from her face. "Did he hurt you at all? What happened?" he asked her, ignoring her questions altogether, and ignoring Andy in the background - not that the guy was any real threat, sitting slumped on the floor, groaning softly.

She looked back at him, seeing that he was going to be having trouble seeing for the next few days, and she really needed to get him cleaned up--but she also needed to answer him. She shook her head. "No, he...tried--" she started, then did glance down at Andy's beaten form. "Let's talk about this somewhere else." she decided, not wanting to let go of him at all, but she started to step slightly back, away from Andy. "Is there a bathroom up here?" she asked, glancing around. She thought she saw something weird out of the corner of her eye but ignored it. If it wasn't a helpful bathroom, then she wasn't interested.

"I... have no idea," Dean admitted to her. They weren't even meant to be up here, after all. "But yeah - let's go find somewhere. I'll..." He sighed slightly, taking Andy in. "And we should find Stu - send him up to deal with him," he added, aware that Andy was, actually, in a pretty bad way. Which was a potential problem, but hopefully Stu could deal with it and... What was it with the fact he caused problems wherever he went? Was he really that much of a walking bomb? Did he attract trouble? Or - what, exactly?

"He can deal for a few minutes on his own." Lullaby said. She may have stopped Dean before he did any real permanent damage to Andy, but that didn't mean she was on his side by any stretch of the imagination. "We can find Stu in a minute, unless he's got his phone on him. Then call, but...let's just...c'mon." she said, starting to pull him along. She just didn't want to be anywhere near Andy anymore. And she didn't really want to go into exactly what had happened with her in that room, with Dean in kicking distance of him either.

Dean pulled out his phone as he left the room, dialing Stu's number. Thankfully the guy picked up straight away and Dean gave him a minimalistic, potted version of what had happened - just that he and Andy had got into an argument, it had come to fairly major blows and that Stu needed to get to the upstairs room at the end of the hall and pick up the pieces. And that, no, he didn't think he'd done any lasting damage. Stu had sounded surprised, baffled even - nobody was really used to that tone of voice on Dean. Nobody around here, anyhow. But he'd agreed - on the basis that he was going to call find him later and he did expect to know what was going on. Dean agreed with a fairly 'whatever' tone of voice and hung up, slipping his phone back into his pocket again.

Lullaby had found a bathroom, and she directed Dean inside of it, flicking on the light and shutting the door behind them. She locked it for good measure as well, and immediately, she turned on the sink to cold water, and she moved quickly so she wasn't visible in the mirror's reflection. "Sit down." she said gently, shutting the toilet seat's lid and she bent to see if she could find anything useful about like a first aid kit. Or at the very least, a cloth she could use.

Dean sat, watching her looking for things. "Do you have any of Oz' cash on you?" he asked her, resting back against the cistern and dabbing the end of his finger against his split lip.

"Yes, we going to be using it for a cab?" she asked, frustratingly not finding anything. Making a little growly sound, she shut the cupboards, and just tugged her sleeve over the end of her hand, and she dipped it into the cold water, shutting off the tap as the basin was filled about half way. Then she moved over closer to him and turned his chin towards her, so she could dab at his lip gently. His eye was worrying her, and she wanted to get him ice, and have him lay down, and take a look at the rest of him...she'd seen a few knocks to the ribs, and looked down at his side, sliding her fingers against his skin lightly at the side of his neck, so she didn't have to yank his shirt up to look...she just felt along for the damage. He was definitely going to be sore tomorrow.

"Yeah - and it's going to be expensive," he told her. But there was no way they were going back with the others. He wasn't letting Andy anywhere near her, oh, say, ever again. "I'll have to find a number as well, but right no, it's later - what happened?" he asked her, not willing to let that slide at all.

"Hold still." she said softly, getting some of the blood from his lip, and she held her sleeve to it for a few moments, letting the cold seep in. She drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, centering herself as she looked down at him. "I couldn't find you. I'm kind of guessing Katie dragged you off somewhere. Andy was just...there the whole time, talking to me, and eventually started talking about ghosts, and how we should go upstairs to look for some." she said, sounding unhappy. Just bordering miserable, really, even if she kept her voice soft, even. "We were up there, and he went to look out a window, and you were down there. With her. And she was...being fairly..." she paused, going to the sink again to wash the blood out of her sleeve, and she soaked it some more. "Friendly."

"She wouldn't take no for an answer. And I - was trying to be nice about it. ...Until she kissed me," he told her, assuming from the way she'd said that that she'd seen that. At least, the kiss part. Which was a horrible thought.

Lullaby's eyes went wide for a minute, and she opened her mouth, then shut it again, looking down at the water that had the very faintest tinge of pink to it. Then she busied herself with wringing out her sleeve, and she walked back over to hold it over his eye. They didn't have ice, so she was doing her best. "I um...I didn't see that part." she said, knowing she had to speak. And she went on, because yeah. She really needed to be just talking right now, and not thinking about that. Or how much it made her want to tell him she'd be right the hell back, because she had someone to go fucking punch. There was a tension in her frame, a tight, clear tension. "I was cranky about it, but trying not to be psychotic about it. ...almost got him to call you to report me lost, but I just...it was difficult. And I was pissed, and said something about her going after other people's boyfriends, and he said some bullshit about her not being the type unless she got 'encouragement'." she said, wanting to get through this. So she wasn't exactly rambling so much as she was speaking faster than usual, and not pausing a lot for breaks to breathe. "Which--fuck him, fuck that, just no. No way in hell would you be doing that so I knew something was bullshit, but anyways, we somehow got downstairs and Andy got me a drink or two then we went back upstairs to talk or...whatever the fuck it was he told me and that's when he started getting a little too fucking touchy with me, and I told him to stop it and he just--" she broke off there finally, to calm herself down.

Dean would have interjected in some of that - a lot of that, but she was going through with such speed he couldn't. And then she got to the end and it was just a very 'fill in the blank' of 'and he just... didn't', which made everything else he was going to say meaningless. He'd known it had to be something like that, of course, but hearing it, even if not completely, from her was something else. He put his arms around her and pulled her in as best he could whilst he was sitting down, squinting up at her. "I'm sorry - I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I lost you. I'm sorry for everything," he told her, sincerely.

She went, hugging him again, letting her eyes fall shut once more for a moment or two. "Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault." she told him. "I should have just...gone down there and told her she could find someone else to accost, you're mine or something." she mumbled, feeling like if she'd just gone that route, everything would have been...well less damaging. Or something, she didn't know. She was quiet a second. "That's never happened to me before." she said. "Telling someone to back off and them just...not doing it. I kept trying to pull away, but he had me by the wrist, and just wouldn't let go..." She smiled the faintest bit, even if he couldn't see it, with her face turned in towards his neck. "I slapped him. I thought that might do it, but then he came at me again, saying something like...I don't know. Like I must like being treated like that or something, I don't know. Then I faded out. I just..." she shook her head. "I didn't know what else to do."

"You did the right thing," Dean told her, firmly, thinking that if he hadn't already beaten Andy to shit he'd be going back right now to do just that. He'd felt justified before, but now he felt really justified. "You did just the right thing there - I'm so sorry," he apologised again, just because he should have been there, even if he knew that he couldn't have known, he still felt that responsibility for not being there.

She hugged him then pulled back, to see his eyes again. "Dean...this isn't your fault. It's Andy's fault. Because Andy's a manipulative asshole, who's..." she sighed and dragged her fingers through her hair. "God, I wish I would have just...gone with my instincts. And just told you some things, and I...I'm the one who should be sorry." she said, leaning her hip against the counter, arms wrapping around herself. Even if she wanted to cling more. She looked at him again and started to get her sleeve wet once more. His eye just looked awful, and she...did better when she could fuss, have something to do with her hands.

Dean reached for her, not liking that she'd moved back. Right now, that wasn't allowed. he wanted her where he could hold her, touch her, needing that tactile reassurance that, actually, yes, she was fine. In the end he lifted her up and sat her in his lap, which was weird, since he was sat on a toilet seat, but this whole night had been strange. "I think Andy set this whole thing up. With you, with Katie, everything," he admitted, as though this was new and shocking news. "I just - I don't understand why. He's always been my best friend. I just - he's... I've always been there for him, always and... I don't understand why he would do this." He wondered if it could be that the guy was jealous, or still pissed that he'd moved away, or made new friends or... something.

Lullaby was quiet for a moment, settling herself down with him, glad he'd pulled her back over. It gave her freer license to cling. "I don't think he's been your best friend. I think he's been someone who manipulated you. Pretty much across the board. I really have no doubts he set tonight up specifically. I just..." she sighed, and looked at him, leaning in to rest her forehead against his temple, careful of his eye. "Dean...you're an honorable person. And to someone who knows that, they can use it against you. I think that..." she paused again. This sucked. "I think he's kept you down. He does all the stupid fucking digs that drive me nuts, and he does them all the time. Before we even got here, when we'd talk with him on the computer? He'd deliberately try to cut you out of the conversation. In emails I got, he'd say things that played him up and you down. It's all over the place, I just...don't think you saw it. And since we got here, I...you know the first day, at the bus stop, where he was playing like he was upset? You know me. You know I can see it, and he wasn't. He just wanted to make you think he was. And that stupid fucking--when he was 'injured' in the park? Yeah, that was bullshit too. He wasn't hurt. He was just faking it. And talking to the girls the other night, with what they were saying...it just adds up. Like how he would sweep in and take any girl who you liked, or who liked you at the very least. And I can even give a great guess as to how he did it." she said, pulling back just enough to look him in the eyes again. Or...eye. His one was getting harder to see. "He told you he was interested and you backed off on principal, because that's the kind of person you are."

Dean frowned, hearing what she was saying, but having a hard time taking it in. They'd already talked about how he didn't understand how or why people would do that kind of thing, and applying it to the guy who'd been his best friend since he could walk was that much harder. It wasn't that he didn't believe her, it was just - he didn't know how to. Even with the anger he'd had earlier on - confusion was clouding that now, making him doubt everything. And Dean's natural frame of mind was to forgive his friends everything, find a reason to forgive them everything. The remains of his anger was the only reason he hadn't done that yet. "he lied to you?" Dean asked her, eventually, holding onto that part as the most accessible and comprehensible point.

"He lied to you. I was secondary." Lullaby said, fully believing that. "I think this whole thing with me...everything about it, I think it was just about...about taking something away from you. Like he always has." she shook her head, and shut her eyes again for a moment. "And I just...wasn't falling for it. And when I didn't play along nicely..." he tried to force it. That was hard to say out loud though, so she didn't. Not yet anyhow. She recognized she might have to, because she knew Dean. And she didn't know how much of this he was getting.

Dean was getting that part - he was getting that part all too well. Andy's actions tonight were unignorable, it was everything else that was shortcirciuting his brain. "but... he's always been like this," Dean told her. Then shook his head. "Not - not like this. This, he... I'm so sorry, this, I... If this was all about me then - I'm sorry. I got you into this and I didn't see and you could have..." He pulled her in, hugging her tightly.

"You did your part to help me, Dean, you bailed me out before we even got here, remember?" she asked. "And you didn't know. You didn't at all know, and I know you didn't, and I just...I should have tried to talk to you about it, I just didn't want to put you in a really bad position, and I just...thought I was overreacting, or misjudging. But I really, really wasn't." she said, reaching up to drift her fingers through his hair. "Don't claim blame here. It's him. Not you. You...you were just being you, Dean. Your dependable, honorable self. And I love you for that. I love who you are. It just...leaves you open for this kind of thing. Especially from someone you call friend. You didn't do anything wrong. He should have lived up to at least decent human being standards, he just...doesn't." Not so far as she saw.

"Lot of good that actually did," Dean reminded her. "It's - having me as a boyfriend didn't actually stop him at all, did it?" he added as the ceiling light started to flicker. Dean didn't pay it any attention, to be honest, the way he felt right now, and with her here - he was more surprised that there was any electric circuits still active at all in the house.

"No, but still. You couldn't have stopped him. I'm sure he would have found a way to do something at some point..." she said, then frowned slightly and looked up at the light, as it flickered again. Which drew her attention because she didn't see energy coming from him to be doing it. "It's not...storming, is it?" she asked, knowing that it could have started and she wouldn't have heard it. She also missed a distant scream from downstairs.

She might have missed it, but Dean didn't. He opened his mouth, then heard another shout and the sound of breaking glass. "Something's going on," he told her, lifting her to her feet and setting her down as he stood, the world spinning a little as he did so, but he orientated himself, hopefully before she even noticed that. he took hold of her hand, determined to keep hold of it as he headed them for the door. "Come on."

She noticed something, but it wasn't anything she got to call him on as something was apparently going on. Something that she wasn't understanding quite yet, that was for sure. She laced her fingers through Dean's, and she looked around, seeing more lights in the hall flickering, and the air felt weird. Colder. "What aren't I hearing?" she asked, because she figured it had to be that. He could hear things she couldn't.

"Things breaking," Dean told her, keeping her close to him. "Screams." Some of those screams were outside now. "The music has stopped. People are outside now." He didn't smell smoke, so he was figuring that there wasn't a fire or something. Maybe he wasn't the only one who'd got into a fight tonight.

Looking around everywhere she could at once, she saw something back behind them, and pulled up short, trying to figure out what she was looking at. "Dean?" she said, frown flickering over her features. It looked like someone was back up the hall they'd been leaving. Someone who was looking around, very confused-like. And not actually quite...fully visible. And right, there was the bit where it looked like she was dying of the plague. Or...something. she didn't look well, that was for certain.

Dean looked round, spotting the woman coming toward them and he stared. "Erm - Thi? I... That..." He was going to say 'ghost', but he knew for a fact that he couldn't see ghosts. It didn't work like that - Maddie had always had to manifest to speak to him. He knew how it worked - certain people in the world could see spirits, the rest couldn't. Except - this was either a spirit, or a really, really sick fade and they had to worry there was something catching going around.

She was blinking. "...she's dead. I mean....she's...no, she's dead." Lullaby decided, though she was just as confused as Dean. "I know this place was supposed to be haunted, but...I...no that's not makeup, I can see the lamp through her middle!"

And that was when the confused woman looked over at them. She tried speaking, but no sound came out. You're not meant to see me. was readable on her lips. Why can you see me?

"I have no idea," Dean said, actually to both women, since he caught what the ghost said, mostly, habitually reading her lips. He didn't get it perfectly - normally his lip reading was only meant to supplement his hearing, not entirely replace it, but still, it was enough.

Thia got it. She shook her head and looked helpless for a moment. "I don't know either." she said, seconding Dean. The ghost drifted closer, and the lights near them flickered wildly. Watching, as the lights flickered, she got easier to see for a moment. Almost like the juice was just being rerouted to her.

The ghost looked really nervous as she got closer, and stayed well back, eyeing the two. She looked at the light as well, then back to Dean and Thia. I should probably go. she said, again, without any sound, but she was starting to fidget, and she looked really at a loss.

The temperature in the room had dropped noticeably and Dean shivered, dressed only in jeans and a thin t-shirt. The hairs on his arms stood up, goosebumps rising on his skin. One thing he wasn't, though, was scared - this woman looked more nervous of them than anything - it was like what your parents told you about being scared of bugs and spiders as a child. "Okay," he told her, since there seemed little else to say.

Lullaby wasn't feeling frightened either. Mostly just confused. And she had a similar reaction to Dean's. "...are you going to be okay? I...I mean...sorry." she said, knowing that hello! Dead girl. Not a lot they could do even if she wasn't okay.

The girl looked over, and gave the hint of a nervous kind of smile. I'll just be off. she said, not sure if that made sense or not, but that's what she said, and she turned to wander back the way she'd come, still looking over everything like she'd never seen it before, the lights flickering whenever she got nearer to them.

Dean watched her go, more confused than anything else - though, well, seriously distracting from what they'd been talking about before. "...I guess they did say this house was haunted..." he said, eventually, still listening to the sounds from downstairs. He could hear cars starting up now, the screech of tires on gravel as people took off too fast, a man and woman arguing. A girl crying really, really loudly. Everything else was quiet though.

"Yeah, but..." Lullaby said, catching the sound of someone crying. Faintly, by her hearing, but still. Crying. "...you'd really think that if this was just a normal haunting that the ghosts wouldn't be confused." she said, tearing her gaze from the girl back to Dean. "Or people crying?" she suggested, starting to tug him down the steps again, looking back once more. "Are people freaking out?" she asked. She'd see soon enough, but she knew something had gone on enough that Dean had said something was up, so...something was up.

"Yeah, I'd say so - people are definitely freaking out," Dean confirmed. That was one way of putting it. "So - yeah. I just - I know I can't see ghosts. And you can't either. But - that was definitely a ghost..."

"That was definitely a ghost. Um. A kind of confused one, it seemed like." she added, as they got to the bottom of the steps and instead of there being people around, there were signs that people had gotten the fuck out of dodge fast. "You'd think she wouldn't be confused if this was normal. And she seemed to not be getting why we could see her, either." Which she knew he knew. "Something's very weird here."

The lights flickered again and Dean looked round as a ghost in civil war era armour walked across the hall, one arm missing. He didn't even seem to see them, just carried on walking toward them as Dean pulled Thia back and out of the path as the ghost just walked straight past them and up the stairs. "Very weird," he agreed.

Lullaby watched, then turned to watch the ghost walking up the stairs then turning to go...somewhere. "....yeah." she agreed. "How about we go?" she suggested, looking back to him. God she needed to get him cleaned up. She reached up with her damp sleeve and rubbed lightly at the dried blood on his cheek. It was kind of an automatic reaction, even if she knew she would have to wait til they got home to properly do that. And...possibly after they answered questions she didn't want to have to answer. God, everything was a mess, wasn't it.

"I think going would be a plan," Dean agreed. There were still sounds coming from outside and he led her out, only for some girl who'd clearly had too much to drink point at him as they got outside and scream about how he'd been attacked! That the ghosts or whatever the hell they were were attacking people! And they were all going to die!! That caused a minor panic as well, but it did get some bloke coming up to them and asking if they needed a lift out of here - everyone seemed to be doing that, working on the basis that nobody was going to be left behind tonight.

Lullaby tried for about half a minute to quell panic--panic wasn't good. Panic got people doing reckless, stupid things. But no one was listening. A lift home though--that was something they required. That was something they very much needed. So, they got in the car. She had been looking for people they'd come with. Stu, Jen...hell. She even looked around to see if she could spot Andy or Katie, but didn't spot anyone. And then they were on their way home. She didn't sit by the window, but looked out it, and it was the weirdest thing to view. Every once in a while, there would be a spirit, just...somewhere random. There were car accidents frequently. People were kind of wandering around. It felt like they were on the set of an apocalypse movie. That montage that happened that showed the effects of the disaster, while some resonating song played. After a while she shut her eyes and curled in closer to Dean, resting her head on his shoulder.

Dean's attention wasn't on what was going on outside, it was on the driver, on the other people in the car. He'd agreed to the lift, because they had no other way of getting home, and because he doubted they'd be able to get a taxi tonight, not now. But that didn't mean he wasn't entirely aware they were in a car with total strangers. As Thia rested her head on him, he put an arm around her shoulder, holding her tight. This had been, well, one hell of a night.

She concentrated on breathing. In. Out. On his breathing, that she could feel. She felt a little like she was drifting, and only opened her eyes to make sure she hadn't started to become transparent in the dark. She had, the slightest bit, but got back to normal again with a little concentration. Why did this place have to be so far away from Dean's? She wanted to be back now. Upstairs, where she could properly take care of him. Eventually they got there, and she noticed vaguely that they hadn't seen many spirits once they'd gotten into the more residential areas and the like.

Dean hadn't expected the guy to be willing to take them the whole way home, but they'd lucked out and he'd been going in the right direction and the bloke hadn't minded the detour once Dean had assured him that he wasn't interested in either the hospital or the police station. He kept his mouth shut throughout the journey, only saying the bare minimum as conversations about ghosts and what the fuck was going on around them. He offered the driver money towards petrol as they got out, only for the offer to be waved away, and the car pulled off, leaving them standing outside his house, in the dark, alone. He turned to Thia. "You okay?" he asked, again.

The answer to that question wasn't an easy one to come up with. Though it was leaning more towards 'no'. Everything still felt weird and just...awash with so many conflicting emotions that she didn't know how to answer him properly. "I don't know." she told him honestly. "Are you? We need to get you cleaned up...is there an ice pack, or am I going to have to make one for you?" she asked, reaching up to lightly touch his cheek below where the bruising was already darkening his skin.

"I think we have an icepack," Dean told her, fishing his keys out of his pocket and leading her up the garden path. The house was dark, but he'd expected everyone to be in bed by now anyhow. He led her round the back of the house and into the kitchen, flipping on a light and letting her go as he went to the freezer and fished out an icepack. Grabbing a teatowel, he wrapped it round the pack and held it to his face, sitting down at the kitchen table. "Better?" he asked, knowing she was probably about to start fussing again.

She was about to start fussing again, he knew her well. "Slightly." she said, smiling faintly at him. Then she went to wet a washcloth from the bathroom, and came to pull a chair up next to him, reaching out to carefully dab at the cut on his cheek. She also had some aspirin for him, and a glass of water. "How's your head?" she asked softly, ticking her gaze to the eye she could see as she asked. It was possible she was asking about more than just whether or not he had a headache.

"Hurts," Dean confirmed. The nagging headache might not have developed into a full blown migraine, but fuck did it hurt right now. "I'll live," he added as he swallowed down the pills and water. "Thank you," he also added, after a moment or two.

"You're welcome." she said, leaning over closer again to get his lip, the little bits of dried blood under it that was stuck to his skin. She had almost had his cheek done. And she might have gone and found disinfectant, but didn't know where it was right then, and he always winced when she did that. Wincing while having an eye that was swelling shut wasn't a good plan, and really, she was fairly sure he'd live without getting a hideous infection from his current wounds. She did lean closer to blow lightly on it to dry it, then kissed just above it, the barest brush of contact, since she didn't want to chance causing him even a little twinge of pain.

He smiled a little when she did that, wishing he didn't hurt so much right now. He'd had plans for her when they'd got home tonight. They'd been good plans as well - he'd planned it all out on their way to the party. But, now everything had gone to shit and he hurt. "Sorry you didn't get to have a good holloween," he told her.

She looked at him, and gave the ghost of a smile back. "I'm sorry you got into a fight. I think all things considered, yours was worse." she said. She put her arms loosely around him, giving him a hug even if it was light. "I'm sorry about everything." she said after a few long moments of silence. She wanted to ask what he was going to do about Andy, if things were over now, or...what. There was a part of her that was afraid he was going to let things slide. Go back, find a way to take the blame for things, to forgive Andy.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Thia. Of everyone in this, you did nothing wrong," Dean told her, very firmly. He wanted to get that into her head, even if he had to repeat himself all night.

She didn't know about that. She still thought that maybe if she'd done things differently, it wouldn't have gone like this. No, it would have played to the tune of Dean getting upset that you were dissing his best friend, and how you didn't understand, and how he wasn't like that. And there would have been distance. And maybe he would have sent you home. And maybe he would have just fallen right back in with these people who don't know him, and Andy just would have kept on doing exactly what he'd been doing the whole fucking time. she thought, but that didn't really help much. She wound up being quiet. She knew she should say something, but she was having problems coming up with what. Reaching up, she took off the headband that had the ears on it, setting it on the table, and she dragged her fingers through her hair, letting it fall a little around her face.

Dean let the silence drift for a while, but not too long. "What do you want to do?" he asked her, still holding the icepack to his face. "Do you want to talk about this now? Or just go to bed and deal with it tomorrow?" Typically for them, 'not dealing with it' wasn't on the list of options. He was just aware that it had been a really, really long day for both of them.

She thought about that for a few moments, trying to figure out what would be best. And in the end, she thought that if they started talking now, they'd be at it for ages. And not only would they be at it for ages, but they might disturb people's sleep. And then they'd have to explain things. Right now, on top of everything else, she really couldn't handle that idea. "Let's get you all situated, maybe get showers in, and get some sleep." she said. "We'll talk tomorrow." she promised, because no. Not dealing just wasn't within the realm of possibility with the two of them. If they were back home, she would have just tugged him into his closet, and they would have had all the time in the world, but here...they just didn't have that. And that was a huge difference right now.

Dean nodded. "Okay," he agreed, checking the clock. Yeah, it was late. "I - I'm going to have to go out tomorrow morning," he told her. "I want to see if I can talk to Stu before he leaves for school. I.... I'd rather do that alone," he added, hesitantly, hoping she would understand that.

She opened her mouth, then shut it, nodding. She understood. "Be careful." she said, knowing that there shouldn't be anything to be careful with, but just...needing to say it. "And if you need anything, text, or come back, or...anything." she told him. Then she stood, and stepped behind him to put her arms around him again, hugging him tighter than she'd allowed herself thusfar. "I love you." she told him.

"I love you too," he told her, not adding anything to her admonition to be careful. He didn't know what to expect from all of this. He knew he was confused as hell over it all. He knew he needed to get his head clear. He just hoped that the throbbing in his skull had gone by morning. That might make things easier.

She stayed where she was for a long few moments, before she made herself stand straight. Made herself push everything rising up to the surface of her mind back down. Not now. "Why don't you go take your shower first?" she suggested. "You can lay down sooner. Rest." It would also mean she wouldn't be clinging to him, which she really, really wanted to do. Not right now, not right now.

He looked up and back at her, rolling his head round to do so. "Why don't you come with me. I might need some help. And then we can turn in quicker," he suggested, his mind in that respect purely on getting clean and getting to lie down. Wasn't the way he'd actually intended them getting to shower together, but it was more practical. Why was it that the only times he seemed to get her alone in the bathroom, there was blood around?

She smiled faintly. "Okay." she said, not mistaking his intentions at all there. No, getting clean, getting to bed. Sleep. Dealing in the morning. It was the laid out plan, the course of action that Dean could tick off as he went, since generally, he needed that kind of thing. She ghosted her fingers through his hair, and leaned over to press a kiss to his forehead. "C'mon." she said, before she got to clinging again. Because it was there. The urge was very there.

Dean stood, taking her hand and giving her a little smile. He knew he was a little clingy right now, but that was only to be expected, he told himself. He hadn't been there tonight. The only thing that stopped him from feeling unbelievably guilty about that was that she'd dealt with it. He was so proud of her for doing that, for dealing with things. It occurred to him that maybe he should tell her that, though he worried it would sound condescending. He vacillated over it for a moment, then leaned in to kiss her softly, ignoring the sting from his split lip. "I'm proud of you," he told her. "For tonight - for getting yourself out of things." He felt awkward, saying that out loud, but it was out there now, however she reacted to it, however she took it.

Lullaby looked a little surprised at that, looking up at him after she'd kissed him back. "You're proud of me?" she asked. Of things she had considered, that wasn't one of them. She wasn't bait. She wouldn't stand for that kind of thing. Of course, a lot of people froze up in situations like that. And she knew Dean tended to want to protect her. Maybe it was because he didn't know if she could get herself out of anything, or...she didn't know. There were a lot of possibilities there. so she waited to see if he had anything to add onto that.

Okay, so, she was surprised. He... wasn't quite sure what to do with that. Had he said the wrong thing? Possibly. See - this was why he kept quiet a lot of the time. he didn't know what was acceptable to say and what wasn't. He should just, like, stay on the firm grounds of 'I love you' and 'you're beautiful' - branching out wasn't a good idea. Except, too late now. "I... It's... Well - yes. I just... I mean..." He swallowed. "You - handled everything. And - he was leaving when I... So you... And... I know you don't like people knowing, but... You did what you had to and you made that call and you... So... yeah. You handled everything really well. From what I can see..." he stumbled.

She listened, letting him stumble through it, though she reached out to take his hand, hugging his arm more to her as she did. That clingy thing wasn't really going away so she let herself have it for a second. "Thank you." she said. "I still feel really..." she started, then shook her head. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." Because getting into how she felt now wasn't going to be conducive to showering and getting to bed and sleeping. "But thank you."

He ducked his head, letting that go - that was probably somewhere he wasn't going to go again. "Let's - let's go shower," he told her, flipping off the kitchen light as he led her out of the kitchen and upstairs. They'd deal with everything else tomorrow.