One werewolf, two teenagers, three breakdowns

Who: Caleb and Nic, then Caleb and Leija, also Caleb and Rose
Where: Third Street alleyways, on the phone, Caleb's house
When: Evening

Nic loved the bar crowds. They tended to flock to the same spots around the same times, stay put for hours and hours, and eventually stagger out. Their presence gave her safe spots to skate when she could, crowded parking lots were good hiding places for the cops, plus there were few things as funny as watching a drunk chick try to chase her in ridiculous shoes after Nic claimed her boyfriend was cheating on her. A more recent addition to the list of reasons? Well, bar parking lots were definitely a good place to go shopping for car parts, if one was the sort to indulge such things. And Nic definitely was.

She'd scoped out the parking lot across from Remies for half an hour now, watching the place fill up more and more, waiting for the flow of foot traffic from lot to bar to slow to a trickle. And once she'd spotted what she was looking for? Well, she headed around the corner to a payphone, lingering under a streetlight as she dialed Caleb's number and hefted her backpack in place with an audible clunk from the tools within. "Asshole had better pick up," she muttered as it rang.

Caleb did in fact, pick up. He had been sitting in his room, listening to music and painting for once, not something he generally did, but he'd gotten paints before so he could paint Leija's walls, and they were just sitting there. So, he'd been doing that. And then the object of his inspiration happened to call--not that he knew that from the 'payphone' listed on his caller ID. "This better be good." he answered. Caleb rarely actually said 'hello' when he answered his phone.

"Oh it's good," Nic greeted with a laugh, leaning against the wall and letting herself really smile. She'd been thoughtful since their last night out, and while she wouldn't grin like that in front of Caleb? She'd let herself do it in private. "I found you a bumper, you grumpy asshole. Now get the hell down here and cover me while I liberate it from it's owner. That shit's heavy, I'm not carrying it all the way to your house." Like before, Nic was guessing based on what she knew about Caleb. And she was guessing that this idea? Would amuse him to no end.

He sat up straighter and blinked. "You're calling me to come get you because you're plotting on stealing me a bumper?" he asked. Then he laughed. "I knew there was a reason I liked you." he told her. He didn't know why he was surprised. He shouldn't be, that was...seeming very her, really. Well, he was amused all to hell, and that was clear. So, he started to get up, dropping his brush in the cup of mess-water he had on his nightstand. "Where the hell are you?" he asked.

She peeked around the corner towards the parking lot conspiratorially, smirking at how still the lot was for the time being. Nothing like Friday night drink specials. "Remillard's, right up from the movie theatre. We've got all kinds of alleyways in case we need some mad Bourne Identity escape driving," she told him with a laugh at his own amusement. Yeah, it was just nice having a friend who enjoyed the stupid shit she pulled. "I've got my tools and everything, so stop doing your hair and get a hustle on."

"Should I park the car someplace that's else?" he asked. "Anyplace that's good where we could park it and switch it out right there? How long does that shit take, anyways?" he asked. Since apparently, she could remove one while it was parked...wherever. "And you're talking the theater downtown, right? Not the big one up by the highway?" Since there were two, and while he'd gotten to know the town pretty well, his knowledge wasn't perfect.

"Yeah, right downtown," Nic confirmed, "just roll that heap down Third and you'll see me at the bottom of the hill. Park..." she trailed off, frowning in thought, "Right by the theatre? It's in running distance if we need to run." Nic laughed richly at the thought, deciding a partner in crime had been missing for a while now. "We'll switch it out if there's time and this isn't some yuppie cockneck wtih a car alarm." Already he was asking for more detail than Nic usually had, which was probably a good thing. This did, after all, cross the line between graffiti and actual crime. "If there's no time, we'll just stash your old one in your house or something. Maybe I'll keep it for... shit, I don't know. Why are you asking so many questions Lockwood?" she asked in a mock-accusing tone.

"Generally speaking when I go to engage in criminal activity, I like to know the angles." Caleb told her, getting his shoes on and grabbing hoodie he'd been using as a jacket on. He'd need a proper coat soon, but whatever. For the moment he didn't so much care. "It's a thing." he added, heading outside. "I'll be there in a few. Where are you going to be?" he asked. "Unless you're meeting me down by the theater." Which could be best, actually. "...do that." he decided. "Then if we do have to run, you won't be following me, you'll know eactly where to run to." Tactics. They were always in his head in some form or another.

"Here I was, thinking you were in league with the cops? And you're actually some kind of mastermind," she teased. But there he was, covering angles for her. "I'm at the pay phone by the theatre right now, so I'll just stay put? Maybe see how many cigarettes I can smoke before you get here." Yeah, she was excited for a little bit of mayhem. And she'd have time to hang out if he felt like it; her mom had already called to say the hospital was swamped, and not to wait up for her.

"See you in a few." he said, then hung up, pocketing the phone as he pulled the hoodie on, walking down the porch steps. Then he got into his banged the fuck up car and headed downtown. It was the theater he'd taken Rose to when they'd gone to see Wristcutters, so he didn't have a problem finding it. He pulled around the little pissant one way streets, and into the parking lot dropped in shadow because of all the surrounding buildings. Then he got out, and headed towards where he'd seen Nic by the payphone. "So were you just out wandering around for no reason and just happened upon something I'd find useful, or were you that hot to steal something substantial for me?" he asked.

"For you?" Nic balked, strolling over and flicking a cigarette away. "Have you ever considered that maybe I'm just hyper to work on a car, and the fact that it's your car is totally incidental?" she asked, smirking his way and chuckling roughly. "Hell, maybe I like tearing parts off other peoples' cars in public," she went on, getting close enough to slug him lightly on the arm and trying to ignore little pangs of awkward memory from the other night. There definitely was some part of her that liked doing it for him, but Nic was ignoring that fact. "Didn't interrupt anything awesome, did I?"

"Depends on your definition." Caleb said. "But if you're talking anything action packed or exciting, probably not." he added. "And I suppose you could want to just grab a bumper from some random person's car, but I prefer to think that it's got some purpose for me. Or at least partially inspired it. I like being able to claim I'm a bad influence."

She smirked at him, holding back from mussing his hair as she nodded for Caleb to follow. "Okay, you can put me on record as saying you're a bad influence. But a fun one too." She started heading back around the corner, wary and focused on the parking lot even as she chatted up Caleb. "Back home? All those crusty punks used to do this just for fun. They'd always say that once they had enough, they could just build a new car with all the pieces. Which, of course, never happened. Their landlord just had to haul a bunch of shit away when they got evicted." She shot him a more thoughtful look as she waited to cross over to the parking lot. "Good to have a lookout, I didn't feel like stabbing someone with a screwdriver tonight."

"I would definitely think aggrevated assault would not be a good thing to have on your list of shit to do tonight." Caleb agreed. "Tack on there someone deciding it was attempted murder, and you'd be in trouble. Especially with someone like me for a character witness." Though really, he was still of a mind that the less Nic even had to do with anything violent, the better. He just wanted her to know how to defend herself and get the fuck out of dodge if push came to shove. Anything more was asking for trouble and he had enough of that to go around.

"I haven't had to actually stab someone yet," she pointed out helpfully, "Just... sorta lunge at them and hope they're drunk enough to fall over." And if she did decide to stab someone? Well, she had a real knife now, which'd be way more threatening. "Boy, did you just say you'd testify against me?" Nic realized a moment later, looking at Caleb with a scowl, "because you'll never make it to the court house." The threat needed an Italian accent, but Nic wasn't a drama kid. Instead she just waved a fist under his nose threatening, then moved to cross the street.

"No, I said that if I was called as a character witness for you, I'd be hard pressed to sit there and say 'Oh, Nicole, she's such a sweet girl, never gets into any trouble, I'd trust her with fluffy kittens and small children any day'." he said, smirking at her. "I'd have to tell the truth, I'd be under oath." he teased. "Nic...I like her. But then again my hobbies include blood magic, killing things, and contemplating homicide for cheerleaders."

"And then they'd offer me a deal if I turned on you, straight-up 'Law & Order' style," she added with a wink and a nudge as they walked. " 'Can you link him to any of this thing-killing he mentioned?' Also? No calling me Nicole, you're not my mom or the vice-principal." Nic smirked his way, shaking her head and ducking it down a little as they reached the parking lot. "And I've never had to baby-or-kitten-sit, so for all either of us know? I might be good at it. Or I might forget to lock up the medicine cabinet and fill the food dish with cat litter."

"And if you'll notice, I only said it to make you sound sweeter." Caleb said, letting her lead to whatever car they were looking at vandalizing. "And at least kittens mostly take care of themselves." he added. Which reminded him of Lullaby's kitten, that had scared the shit out of him when he'd been so high fucking strung after stitching she and Dean up. Yeah, wow, was he ever not of a mind to even start thinking about that shit. So he didn't, he shoved it aside. "...so this bumper..."

"Hey, just let me ramble. You get me talking, you have to deal with the consequences." She headed down a row of cars, frowning a little as she nodded towards a somewhat-battered pickup parked kinda far from the bar. "yeah, this bumper. The thing I like about trucks? old ones don't match the paint up, because a truck's for rougher shit. New trucks suck a dick, all that plasti-steel crap in the frame. Plus, they usually have a higher suspension, like this one..." Nic trailed off as they reached the pickup, shrugging her backpack off and letting it drop with a clunk. "Okay, keep an eye on the bar, I'm gonna do this fast," she warned, crouching down to tug open the zipper and dig for tools.

Caleb had no idea how one even went about removing a bumper, so, he just did as she asked, stood so that anyone coming out of the bar would have a hard time seeing her, and waited. "So, you've done this before, I take it." he said, not looking back towards her, but not figuring that this little caper required them to stop talking.

"Dudes back home collecting car parts, remember? I helped out once or twice," Nic answered, flashing an impish smile up at Caleb as she grabbed a standard wrench and a socket wrench. "Once I started taking auto-shop classes, I just got better at it. Never actually had a point to what I was taking though, it was just to see if I could do it before I got caught. Time trials, y'know?" With that explanation, Nic laid down on the ground with her hood up to cushion her head, scooting under the front of the truck. She felt around quickly, clamping her wrench onto the first restraining bolt and starting to twist it free.

"I meant on your own. Like...nowish." Caleb said. "Unless this is new forrays into things for you. In which case, I'm honored you decided to let me tag along with it. I love watching the destruction of a value system." he teased. "What else have you jacked from cars...and what did you do with it?" he asked curiously.

Nic grunted from under the truck, turning her head as a bolt dropped free and rolled away. "Back home? Sideview mirrors. I had a collection, had to kinda sneak them to the garbage when I found out we were moving here. I never really tried anything too big on my own, though. Most parts are pretty heavy, they don't fit in my backpack either." She grinned up at the suspension of the truck as she started on another bolt. "Took some dude's ridiculously oversized spoiler though, those things actually fly pretty good if you throw them like a boomerang. But they don't float, so now it's somewhere in the lake."

Caleb really could picture all that. And well, even. "This doesn't surprise me." he said. "So when you grow up to be a serial killer, you'll be a trophy collector then." he decided, nudging her thigh with his foot. I'll keep that in mind. Try to make it something interesting, though. You'll need to have your schtick. Something unique that sets you apart...well. Beyond the fact that you'd be a female one, and those are rare anyways. I think women are too smart and practical to become serial killers. Men are...I think we get bored too easy and keep looking for the next notch up on the adrenaline scale. And there's the issues thing. There are a lot of issues." Not to mention most guys didn't like talking about their issues either, so he was willing to lay some money on the idea that that helped snap things for some psychos out there.

She kicked a foot out when he nudged her, missing entirely and groaning as another bolt fell free and bounced off her forehead. "Whore," Nic cursed from under the truck, easing her grip on the bumper to let it sag forward a little. "I'm gonna get you for that later," she threatened in spite of it being entirely her fault. "Trophies?" Nic went on, musing on that, "Like an eyebrow or something? Maybe their thumbs. I'll have to think about it. As for chick slashers? We don;t go serial, yeah. Getting a pattern makes it too easy to get caught. Like that lady up in Canada? The nurse? She iced fifty-some people before anyone caught on." Yeah, cheery conversation! A good way to frame the petty crimes, for sure. "Okay, one more to go," Nic warned as she popped a third bolt out, "Then the fun part comes."

Caleb glanced down quickly, frowning a second as he leaned against the truck's side. "...you okay?" he asked, concern in his tone. He didn't see the bolt, but he hear something hit the ground and roll a little. "And yeah, yeah, promises, promises." he tsked to her saying she was going to get him for things later. "Yeah but that's cliche too. The nurse thing." Caleb said. "And if you're going for taking some bit of flesh, only kill people with tattoos, and keep the tattoo." he told her. "Eyebrows are just weird, and thumbs...people would be specutlating what you were doing with them." he told her, figuring she could fill in that blank just fine.

"Oh gross," Nic spat out, laughing despite her protest as she twisted the last piece free. "Every time I think I get your damage, you show me a little more, sicko. But yeah, I'm fine. My glass eye popped out is all, go find it?" She slid out from under the truck, sitting up and tugging her hood back to grin proudly at Caleb. Nic leaned over to her backpack, tossing the wrenches back in and swapping them for a screwdriver. "Now we just have to pop the support strut," she murmured, slipping the screwdriver between bumper and truck, then sliding it until it hit solid metal. Bending it back as far as it'd go, she waved for Caleb to come over. "Just... hold this like I have it? And get ready to grab the bumper and run."

"Sweetheart, I have more damage than you can possibly fathom at this juncture." he told her, walking over and doing as instructed. He got in close, so he could get the screwdriver, and he held onto the under edge of the bumper as well. The thing clattering loudly to the ground probably wasn't the best plan ever if they wanted to remain stealthy. "Think whoever owns this thing will even notice the bumper's gone til tomorrow?" he asked. It was hardly something people looked at regularly.

"Well, we're probably going to fuck up the side panels? But with this truck, I'd say we have a fifty-fifty shot," she told him, grinning and propping her hands on the truck's hood. Now was when she found out if there was an alarm. Nic boosted herself to sit up on the hood, grinning down at Caleb. "Well, until you ask me to get a tattoo so you can cut it off, I don't give two shits in a biscuit about your damage," Nic assured Caleb, winking. "And watch your hands, i'd hate to cramp your drawing habits," she warned, abruptly stomping both feet down on the bumper as Caleb pried it back. She had to give it a few good kicks before the strut groaned and snapped free, dropping into Caleb's grip.

"It was a suggestion for you, I'm not going to keep anyone's tattoos. That's just a little sick. I'd rather just keep drawings of them or something. A hell of a lot more tame, but you have to step shit up, you're a girl." he said, stepping back and pulling the bumper with him. Which was in fact, fucking heavy. "And if you fucked up my hand I'd just have to learn how to draw with the other. It'd occupy my mind for a long time."

"But you came up with it," she pointed out, sticking her tongue out for a second as she hopped down and reclaimed her backpack. "So until I do it? It's your trophy idea." Nic slung the straps back over her shoulders, leaning to help Caleb heft the bumper up with a little groan. "Okay, let's get this unwieldy bastard to the other lot, hm? And if you end up with a mangled hand? I demand the chance to see the scribbles you get out of the other one. Sound fair?"

"Sounds fair." Caleb said, smirking as they started to haul the bumper to his car. At least no one had come by and bothered them. Too busy drinking, he'd imagine. But this was so far easier than he'd thought. Which really was not a complaint. "How about we not do that though? I kind of like being able to draw, helps keep me sane. I mean if I couldn't, never know. I might go crazy. They say art is therapeutic and all that shit. Maybe it's all I have letting me hang onto that last shred of sanity." he mused, teasing in his tone.

Nic laughed, hefting the bumper for a minute and lightly kicking Caleb's leg as they walked. "I'd say you're already crazy," she teased, "I mean, look how often you decide you want to hang around with me, right? That's gotta be a sign of insanity." But she didn't want him to stop his artwork either, so his hands would definitely need to stay intact. Caleb was actually good; the sparse minutes he'd spent sketching her out before literally shamed Nic when she compared them to the time she put into her graffiti. "And what about--" she started to add, cutting herself off as a howl split the air, followed by the blare of a car horn and the squealing of tires from up the hill, somewhere towards Washington Street.

Caleb stopped dead where he was, really not liking that sound. Fuck. He'd heard about the animal attacks, of course, and glanced towards the sky--which was unhelpfully overcast. Was it a full moon? Shit. Either way? Those weren't good sounds, and he'd rather overreact than have it cost him. "Nic...get to the car." he said, voice tense, but even. His eyes were in the direction the sounds had come from, and god he hoped she didn't choose now to argue with him.

She wasn't arguing, but Nic wasn't moving immediately either. The howl touched some deep, primal fear and sent a wave of goosebumps racing down her back as she turned toward the sound. They were nearly at the sidewalk, and from her spot she could see up to the corner of Washington, to the streetlight there and how it was eclipsed by some dark bulk that was moving. "...Caleb?" she murmured, backstepping in the direction of the theatre lot with the bumper held defensively tight in her grip. Somewhere under the car horns, almost lost in the echo of the howl reverberating off of buildings? She could hear claws scraping on pavement.

"It's not a fucking request, Nic, move," he said, moving himself, but only to reach back, and push her in the direction of the car. He dropped his end of the bumper while he was at it, reaching into his pocket to draw the blade Math had given him. Fuck if it came in their direction, this was going to suck. Looking back over? It looked to him like it was inevitable. Unless it caught the scent of someone closer first? Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck they weren't nearly far enough away right now.

It took the second command to really register, and when Caleb's end of the bumper clanked off the pavement, Nic let go too. "C'mon!" she snapped at him, starting across the street and feeling her insides twist tight as whatever it was out here with them started down the hill. "Hey! What the fuck are you--" she heard from her right, looking over to see the door to Remillards hanging open, a burly guy leaning on it. He was probably talking to them? But he'd stopped as he saw whatever it was heading their way, faster and faster, then screamed and swung the glass door shut again. She got her first good look as she kept across the street at a diagonal, moving for the corner she'd called Caleb from.

It was big, that was for sure. Lean and predatory, matted in dark hair and moving far too quick for something of its stature as it lunged for the door, slamming a hand through the glass to let a chorus of terrified screams spill out onto the streets. Is that a... "Caleb! Run!" Nic shrieked back at him, turning to dash at full tilt for the car while she had a shot and it, whatever it was, was distracted.

A werewolf getting into a crowded bar. That? Wasn't going to be good. It would mean a lot of dead people. And it would also mean a lot of new werewolves, come next month for the poor motherfuckers that lived. So, that quick calculation done in the back of his head, Caleb made a decision, and while he got to the other side of the street, he didn't move to follow Nic. Instead he dragged the blade over the back of his hand, slicked his fingers through it, and shot off a single ground-claw arc, that headed directly for the thing. it had been busy trying to get into the bar, but one thing werewolves had was great hearing, and it wasn't like Caleb's particular brand of magic was subtle. So as backlash opened up along his ribs on the right side, the werewolf turned to look as the claw got to it. It also moved, which meant the spell only clipped it, cleaving into it's shoulder, but not at a good enough angle to drop the arm. Just enough to drop a mass of fur and muscle to the sidewalk as it let out a pained cry, followed by a dark growl as it centered it's attention on Caleb.

She'd only gotten to the first set of parking meters in the time Caleb had stopped and made his decision. But the lack of footsteps behind her? Yeah, it was a bad sign. And there was still screaming from the bar, but less than Nic would think to hear if a werewolf was eating the inhabitants. Fucking werewolf?! Nic turned to look back, getting an edged view of Caleb with his back to her. She'd only seen him cast once before, but the muted flash of red light told her plenty. He was fighting. "What the FUCK are you doing?" she screamed at him, shifting her weight from foot to foot for a moment as flight instinct battled with loyalty, then lost. Still, she knew that if she ran back? She'd be in the way, he'd have to watch out for her, and one of them (if not both) might die. Nic bolted for Caleb's car, her head swimming with an overpowering urge to get him out of there and to safety as she threw the door open and scrambled inside. She had her knife out and unfolded, ready to crack apart his steering column for a hotwire, when she noticed the keys dangling from the ignition. "Yes!" she screamed triumphantly, turning the engine over, yanking the parking brake into place, and flooring the gas to build up speed.

The werewolf didn't waste time, it started bounding across the street towards Caleb, it's gait definitely not what it was a moment ago. He shot off another spell, this time the three-claw attack, and it hit with one streak, taking off one of it's arms mid-forearm down. That wasn't good enough, though, not with it still coming, and while it was screaming in it's werewolf-sort of manner, that madness that ruled their kind was a far more driving force than anything else. He felt more backlash, and prepared for another spell as it started to barrel down on him.

Nic loved older cars; they were all muscle and fury under the hood. Even stuff that wasn't meant to be a speeding missile had some oomph. She watched the RPMs spike on the dashboard, slapping the parking break back down and suddenly hurtling forward in Caleb's car. Nic flicked the lights once, hoping Caleb could somehow catch that and move, and praying that if that thing he was fighting was still alive? It would be right in front of her trajectory. She cranked the wheel hard, hopping the corner of the sidewalk as she swung around and onto the street, stomping back down on the gas and bracing for a sudden stop so the two of them could get the fuck out of there.

It was less the lights that warned him, and more the sound of the car racing down on him. There was one more spell dropped, the one that was a lot like tiny arcs of blades sent at the werewolf, which hit, or some of them did, and it reared back--momentarily stationary.

Catching sight of the last spell, which still got a 'holy shit' from Nic, she grit her teeth as the car slammed into the werewolf's legs and snapped it back over the car, sliding across the hood and hitting the ground behind her in a heap. Nic shuddered with the impact, stomping on the brakes and yanking the gears down into reverse, then accelerated again. The car rolled back fast, bouncing her in her seat as it went up and across the prone form on the ground. She stopped again, popping her door and looking out Caleb's way. "Get in! Is it dead? Get the fuck in!" she snapped.

"Shut the goddamn door!" Caleb said, already heading toward the body. Because he? Was bleeding. And if it wasn't dead, he could at least heal himself a little bit. Finish it off. If nothing else it was stunned. He dropped down to one knee next to it, and automatically, before it could do anything if it wasn't dead, sliced the knife into the side of it's neck. It healed up the wound on his ribs, and some of the one on his back, but that was all. He tried again, but no healing occurred, which meant it was in fact, dead. Then he got up, and got into the car, dropping into the passenger's seat. "It's dead." he told her. Which...they should not be here. "Drive."

Yeah, she'd shut the door the moment Caleb had yelled at her. Nic almost protested losing the bumper they'd ripped off, some part of her mind that wasn't in shock pointing out how close it was. But hey, there was the bar, windows flooded with staring faces. Let them deal with the dead werewolf. She stepped on the gas again, twisting the wheel to drop the car down an alley that ran behind the Portside and waiting until they were a few blocks away before she finally spoke up. "Holy shit. Fucking god, Caleb! Are you okay?" Nic blurted out in a rush of breath, grip tightening as shock wore off and anxiety replaced it, realizing that she was shaking.

"I'll be fine." Caleb told her, bending forward to tug his jeans leg up on the left side, trying to see the last backlash hit he'd taken. Yeah, that was bleeding--but it could have been a lot worse. That was downright mild in comparison of other things. He glanced up out the windshield. "...Nic, you're speeding. Slow down." he said, voice calmer. Almost gentle, even. "It's dead." Nevermind there could be others. What were their chances of finding another one without actively looking? He didn't know, he just knew that going fifty in a twenty five was probably bad.

"Yeah. Slow down. Because the cops are gonna be running speed traps when there's werewolves. Why was there a fucking werewolf?" she asked demandingly, as if Caleb might have an answer. Still, she was trying, gritting her teeth at a knot of tension in her leg and easing off the gas pedal. But she couldn't loosen up her grip on the wheel yet. If she did? It might be more obvious how shook up she was. Not that it wasn't already. "And what the fuck?" she spat out, glancing at him with a glare that was more concern than real anger. "'Run, Nic'? Run while you stay there and deal with like eight feet of fucking fangs? You stupid asshole! You could've been killed!"

Or, you could hit someone trying to cross the street, and be looking at manslaughter. Caleb thought, but didn't say. She was slowing down. That was his goal. "It was that, or let it get into that bar, which it probably would have. Which would mean a lot of dead people, and whoever pulled through, there'd be that many more werewolves next month." he said. "Couldn't let it happen." he shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "So, I made a decision, and tried. Sorry if it freaked you out." But he wasn't sorry he did it in the first place, and wouldn't apologize for that.

Hero. She almost said it just to piss him off the way he'd pissed her off, but did that make sense? No. She was bugging out over all of this; flush with the feelings of protectiveness that had kept her from just running straight away from everything, terrified by her first real look at the unknown, vaguely aware that she had in fact pissed herself a little, and still feeling like she might cry. "Okay..." Nic said slowly, tucking one hand in her sweatshirt sleeve to hide the tremble and wiping it under an eye, "We're going to your house. I'm going to clean you up. I'm going to ask you questions while I do. You're not going to protest either one of those, because that was some straight-up 'Howling' bullshit back there."

"I'll answer anything you want, and I'm not that hurt." he said, but he didn't argue with her either. Honestly, the her being inside someplace safe thing? That was a good call. Call... "But take us to my place, fine, I have to call a few people..." he said, hitting speed dial for Leija and Rose, and just leaving the message to call him as soon as possible. He almost thought to call Dean, but Dean? Was safely in another goddamn country. So he was about as safe as he could get. Though...right now he thought they could really use someone who was as good a shot as his friend was. That and some silver bullets.

Nic wanted to argue how hurt he was; she'd seen him cast two spells, and had no idea he could heal some of the pain. So for all she knew, he was bleeding from a few spots. But then he was on the phone, leaving quiet messages for other people. So she bit her tongue, literally, and focused on her speed, the turns to Caleb's house, anything to keep her wits in check. With how fast of a start she'd had before slowing down, it wasn't long before Nic was hopping the curb at the edge of Caleb's driveway and parking his car. "Are you good to get out?" she asked, popping her door as she readied herself to rush around and help him inside.

"Yeah. Just head in." Caleb said, glancing around first before opening up his own door, getting out and again looking around. He wanted her inside before he was. He thought it was clear. One thing werewolves weren't was subtle. They weren't terribly interested in stealth, after all. Just carnage.

She hopped out, raising both hands to her head and taking a deep breath, then another. nic felt a shudder wash over her as the realization hit her again. I helped kill a monster. She trembled for a moment, looking back to Caleb once she felt steady again and catching the way he was looking around the yards nearby. Were there more of them out there? "C'mon, let's get inside," she insisted, pulling her hood up and moving for the front door as she jammed both hands in her pockets.

"I'll be right behind you, Nic, now get inside." he said. Yeah, Caleb wasn't the most reasonable type when in crisis mode. He didn't do things like make polite suggestions, or ask nicely for things. He tended to order people around, because he didn't have time for there to be argument. He did take a step towards the house though, just to get her moving.

Normally she would've bristled at being ordered around by anyone but her mother. But these were special circumstances, they cut off Nic's tendency to argue or be a bitch or say thing she knew would get a reaction. They were both okay, overall, so she'd do as Caleb asked. Of course, if he wasn't right behind her? She'd be bitching him out from the doorway. hoping she wouldn't have to, Nic moved up the front walk and popped open the door to Caleb's house, ducking inside and feeling for light switches in the unfamiliar darkness.

Caleb headed across the yard towards the porch, the night clear for now. He backed up the steps, and only turned to head inside at the last second. Then he shut the door, didn't bother locking it. Werewolves weren't known for their skills with a doorknob. He stepped in behind Nic, and stilled her hand over the switch, keeping it off. "C'mon." he said, taking her by the upper arm to lead her through the house, to the bathroom, so he could turn the light on in there. Less conspicuous. And sure, a werewolf wouldn't come at the house just by seeing a light on, but paranoia wasn't always rational.

Nic's subconscious seemed to be all about conflict tonight; she wanted to pull her arm away and shove him, demand he dropped this authoritative shit. She was going to clean him up, after all, not vice-versa. But for any of those thoughts? The majority of her was still so far off-balance that even if Nic decided to follow the instincts, she couldn't have verbalized them well. "Alright," she said, taking a deep breath with her eyes shut against the sudden light, "Sit on down, get some water running and uncover anything that's bleeding. Where do you keep your first aid kit?" She thought it had been in here before, the night he showed her, but her memory wasn't the most trustworthy thing right now.

"Under the sink." Caleb told her, and he turned the water on, eyes on her. "Nic, are you okay?" he asked. "I'm sure that was..." he made a vague gesture. "A lot to deal with." What with her being new to this shit and all. He supposed it could have been worse. She could have witnessed the werewolf gutting someone. But still, seeing one in the first place had to have been something rough to deal with. He only had a vague concept himself, since he'd always known of the other shit out there. But still. He got that she was probably internally flailing right now. Even if she had come back to help him, run the thing over. Twice. That thought actually had a faint, fleeting smile cross his features.

Bending over to flip open the cabinet beneath the sink, Nic gave a rough laugh that was devoid of humor, cutting it off before it turned into a choke. "Okay? No. No, Caleb, I'm not okay," she told him, keeping her eyes aimed straight ahead as she grabbed the kit and brought it out, sitting it on the edge of the sink. "Jesus-nonexistant-Christ am I ever not 'okay'." She cut herself off there, biting onto her lip and popping the kit open to get out some disinfectant and gauze, her eyes lingering on the stitching needle Caleb had used on himself before. "Okay, where's the blood coming from?" she asked, hoping to push away from the topic of her state of mind for at least another few minutes.

He leaned one hand on the counter, closer to her than he would have been otherwise. "I'm not bleeding that bad." he told her. "Why don't you sit down for a minute?" he suggested gently. Well at least he wasn't still in 'order people around' mode. That was something. Probably. "Breathe. Calm down."

"You're bleeding though, right?" she insisted, acutely aware of how close he was in that instant but refusing to look over. If she saw his eyes? Let him see hers? Nic couldn't keep it together in that scenario. So instead she just watched herself in the mirror over the sink, and Caleb as well, looming to one side of her. "I'll sit in a second, alright? Any bleeding is bad, so just let me..." She shuddered as her words cut off, forcing in a deep breath and shaking her head. "Caleb? I just ran over a fucking werewolf with a car. Like... a person? But a person who turned into a big goddamned death machine? And I did it while you were casting magic. I... I'm not gonna calm down if I sit. This shit is just..." she trailed again, lacking the words to even try and convey the enormity of it all.

Internally, Caleb winced. He was really hoping that her mind wasn't going to connect in so soon that it had been a person up until say...a couple hours ago at most? Yeah she didn't really need to be thinking about things like that. In the end what he did was turned her around to face him, then just picked her up and put her on the counter, hands resting on it on either side of her. He felt her struggle a little, but he managed it. "Nic, look at me." he said, tone calm, even, very much in control. "You probably saved my ass." he told her. He wasn't actually sure about that at all, but she didn't need to know that, and he needed to spin this for her in a way that wasn't going to have her potentially falling down the rabbit hole of 'I killed someone'. "And most people would have just driven away, but you didn't. So, thank you." he said, giving her little bits at a time here. "Do you want a drink?" he asked. Because they had alcohol in the house, Math did, he knew, so he'd be liberating that, if she needed it--which he was thinking wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

At first, she couldn't look at Caleb, not even when he told her to. She'd curled in on herself when he picked her up, hands reaching to push lightly at his chest, to keep the space between them that Nic felt she needed just so she could keep breathing. And as she sat there with her feet not quite touching the floor, she gradually looked up at him as he kept talking. Tears were definitely welling along the bottoms of her eyes, and Nic sniffled heavily as she reached to wipe them away, finally laughing in sheer exasperation. "Fuck," she murmured with a disbelieving smile, shaking her head at herself and sighing heavily into her hands. And then? Well, then she really looked at Caleb, seeking reassurance in his eyes to match what he was saying. And very rarely had she ever been so glad to see exactly what she hoped she would.

"Like I'd just steal your car, retard," she murmured, reaching out to shove him again and smiling unsteadily. She'd saved him? Well, fuck me. "But... thank you, too. You told me to get to the car, and holy shit, I listened." She had been firmly against the eye contact only a minute earlier, but apparently Caleb had the right idea. It was calming her down. Or maybe the idea of a tiny little werewolf-free bathroom was. "Um, a drink-drink? Or like, a water or soda or something? I don't know how I'd do with booze in my system and this shit on my mind."

He leaned back slightly when she pushed him back, not wanting to crowd her, but he didn't actully step back. "It's good you listened." he said first. "That was important. And anything you want." he answered her question about a drink. He paused. "...you didn't kill it, Nic. I did. Okay?" he told her, making sure he had that heavy eye contact when he said it. "You didn't kill it." Granted he was fairly sure he'd just put it out of it's misery before death would have claimed it inside ten minutes, but that wasn't the point. He thought she needed to understand that she hadn't actually been the one to end it's life.

Despite her lack of exposure to this sort of thing? Nic was thinking similar to Caleb. She'd had his car just below forty miles an hour when she'd hit, and that shit killed. But she knew what he was going for, and that meant everything in the moment. She could get behind the idea. "I kicked it's bitch ass is what I did," she murmured, struggling for a smile and sighing heavily. "Anything I want? Then... point me at your fridge, you sit down and cut out the whole bleeding thing." Yeah, he was helping. It was definitely forced harder than she usually had to, but Nic felt like she could get back to a somewhat normal demeanor for now. Later, in private? Well, that'd be totally different. Plus, and she couldn't know for sure, but Caleb's scars? Something told her they weren't just on his arm. So maybe he'd do better at patching himself up with a minute or two of privacy.

"I will." he told her. And, not really thinking about it, he kissed her forehead. "Go get a drink. You can either stay in the kitchen, or living room, or just go sit in my room for a few, okay?" he said, standing straight and stepping back. "Won't take me very long, I'm not really that bad off. The knife I have...if I cut anything else with it, it heals me. And I killed the werewolf with it, so...I'm not nearly as bad as I could be." And that was the truth. He was still bleeding a little, but really not even enough to concern him.

Should she have been more startled over the knowledge that he healed himself by cutting other things, or the fact that he'd just kissed her? Nic wasn't sure at first, and the wide-eyed surprise she wore could've been due to either of those things, or both. At least the kiss had been more like a parent to a child, leaving his weird blood-magic vampirism as the current winner. "Okay, um..." she hopped down, smiling a little and shrugging her shoulder, "I'll just let my feet lead me?" She'd probably opt for his bedroom though, since she'd at least hung around there once before. Plus there was a blanket on his bed, and few things were as comforting in uncertain times. "Holler if you need help holding skin shut," Nic offered with a light smirk, slipping past Caleb and out of the bathroom. How hard could it be to find the kitchen? She'd already seen his room, so that was one less place to get turned around in.

He watched her go, then drew in a deep breath, and let it out in a rush. Right. So, at least she wasn't having a screaming meltdown. he figured she'd be in various stages of breakdown for a while, but that was dealable, so long as she didn't freak the fuck out immediately. He did as he said he would, cleaning the blood off of himself, and he bandaged the one on his leg, since that was the worst. He noticed belatedly that the stitches on his arm were going to have to be cut out, as apparently that had been healed up too. Right. He'd do that in a minute. It didn't take him that long to get himself sorted, and then he remembered something--fuck, he'd left his painting out. Well, here was hoping she didn't opt for his room....

Of course, with everything else they'd each been hoping for throughout the night, eventually someone was bound to be disappointed. In this case? It was Caleb. Nic had poured herself a glass of water from the kitchen sink, wandering the dark halls and looking at the other doors curiously, finally ducking into Caleb's room. When she'd first hit the light, she was amused at the sight of the easel his canvas was propped up on. Nic briefly had to wonder if she'd influenced him to actually try painting, albeit a more traditional form of it that hers. But when she moved around to the front? She nearly dropped her glass, nearly spit her water on the canvas in surprise. It was her, but just like his sketch it was a version of her that Nic didn't think actually existed. This girl looked fierce and warrior-like, streaks of red accenting one cheek and starkly bringing out an edge in her eyes. Was this what he saw when he looked at her? Stunned, Nic stepped back to sit on the edge of Caleb's bed, her eyes never leaving the canvas.

Well fuck. The light was on, and he walked in, trying to come up with some form of an excuse before he even was fully into the room. "Nic, I--" he started, but stopped, because she was just sitting there, staring at the painting. He instinctually kept himself back by the door, his old, strong tendencies to bail kind of kicking in then. He couldn't bail right then, but...he wanted to. good goddamn did he want to. He also couldn't think of anything more to say, so, he just...hung back by the door and hoped she didn't have a seriously bad reaction. Maybe the whole werwolf thign would dull the effect this might have. He could hope, right? And he got how fucked up it was to hope anything even resembling that...shit.

She only faintly remembered the glass in her hands, and even Caleb's entrance took a second to register. When it did, she looked over slowly, her eyes still wide and awed. Nic wanted to ask if this was how she seemed to him, if the blood on her hand (what else could it be?) was her own. But the way he was hanging half-out of the doorway? She felt like any questions at all might spook him off, and with everything that had already happened, Nic didn't want to be alone. She set her glass down on the floor, standing up and taking a few steps closer to the canvas to look closer. The poise of the person in that painting, the hint of red on her lip... "Caleb?" she murmured, not looking his way, "It's... it's beautiful." I wish it could be me. And as absurd as it might have seemed? Seeing this had, for the moment, pushed her fears aside with the sheer wonder of the discovery and what it simply couldn't mean.

Well, that wasn't what he expected out of her mouth. He remained where he was, mostly, though he took a step farther into the room, and at least shut the door. He really wanted to put something over the thing, but she was looking at it. Pretty intently, even. "...thanks." he said, not sounding very sure of himself in that moment. He felt very caught. He sure as hell hadn't been intending to show it to her. Most of his artwork never got seen. He didn't do it to show off. Really he couldn't have said why he did in the first place, beyond the idea that he had imagery in his head that sometimes needed to get out.

She wanted to touch it, like she had with his sketch. Nic wanted to try and feel the brushstrokes, to guess at the mood he'd been in when he'd done it. But that was just her, she was a tactile person. Still, she recognized the intrusion that would be, and stopped her hand before it even got too close to the canvas. Caleb's feelings were accurate, he had definitely been caught, it simply wasn't something he should've been afraid of. "You can... you can come in, y'know," she said quietly, finally looking back to Caleb and catching the awkward tension he was carrying. "It's your room, after all." She moved closer to him and the door, guessing that if she was away from the painting he might untense a little.

That didn't actually work, her getting closer tensed him up even more, and he unconsciously pressed his back against the wall. His eyes ticked over to the painting, then back to her, then his gaze hit down and off to his right, just beyond her shoulder. "Yeah...well, you seem to have wanted space." he said, latching onto that excuse. Which it was. A pure, total bullshit excuse. And he knew she'd see through it in a heartbeat. He needed to think faster on his feet in situations like this. The werewolf shit he was much better at.

"I was just... comfortable in here," she told him, stopping in her tracks as Caleb retreated and flattened against the wall. Obviously, he didn't like her having seen this, and now she felt like she'd committed some transgression, some unknown slight she couldn't quite fix. "I'm sorry," Nic said softly, hands stuffing in her pockets as she studied him. Maybe this was how he felt sometimes when she got awkward. But if Nic remembered right? Caleb had just pressed on in the past, he didn't let her wallow in it. "I don't want space," she went on, taking another tentative step forward, "I want company. It's been a fucked up night, and I feel better with you here." Nic moved closer with that statement, in arms reach as she leaned to angle herself into Caleb's line of sight. "This? Isn't a bad thing. It might be the best thing."

He could feel the tension in his frame straining. It got worse as she got closer, even if he could't have said why. When she stepped into his line of sight, he ticked his gaze up to meet her eyes. Not saying anything for a moment, he tried to will himself to relax, but that didn't work so well. It never usually did, whenever he tried. He was just that twitchy. "The best thing?" he repeated, wanting clarification on that. That didn't necessarily fit in with his mindset at current.

She breathed deep and smiled at him, moving beyond the strain that was definitely still lurking in her mind. It couldn't be handled on her own, and if Caleb got weirded out by this? Who else could she handle it with? Or if I get weirded out. So she had to try not to. "No one's ever... ever done something like that," she told him, "Not for me. I'm not the girl someone wants to paint. And I think you might be crazy? In spite of having your art." She grinned again, steeling her nerves and taking another step forward. Caleb looked like he might flinch, but if she pushed too hard? She was sure he'd let her know. "But I like this crazy. I... shit, I like that you did that."

Now that he'd made the eye contact, he had trouble looking away. He still felt a little trapped, and still had that tension singing through his frame, but he didn't move, even as she advanced on him. "Well...you're right about the crazy part." he said. "But probably not for the reasons you'd sight." Not that he was explaining that. "You like that I painted you?" he asked, ticking his gaze back over towards the painting once more before looking back at her. "Why?"

"Because? It's... me, but it's a me that I'll never be. I never thought I'd want to see it, but I'm glad I got the chance." Nic smiled a little, shoulders shrugging like she didn't buy her own words. She didn't think she should move any closer, but there she was, babystepping in a little even as she wondered why. "Not that I'm upset or anything, but why'd you paint it?" She could guess? But Nic thought she'd be wrong if she did.

"How do you know it's you that'll never be?" he asked, before he could think better of it. "Maybe it's you that I've already seen." And he should just shut up around now. Could they go back to dealing with werewolves now? Seriously. He was better at that. Now he had to figure out an acceptable 'why'. He started talking, and hoped it came out sounding better than it did in his head. "Sometimes I just...get an image in my head and it needs an outlet. That one...well. It's not that far off from that night when you crashed into me with your board." he said. "When we were walking home, you had my blood all over your hand and you just looked..." he stopped there. No matter how he ended that sentence, it was going to be creepy.

"Enthralled," Nic finished for him, much more honestly than she thought she would've. But she had been, it had been a moment she'd never had in her life, and it had drawn her in. Plus? She'd whacked her head pretty good. "I'd never felt someone else's? And the way it mixed with mine..." she trailed, sighing quietly. "So... you just needed to purge that? I can get that," Nic told him, smiling a little in understanding and wondering about the little sting that idea carried. "And that? It's gorgeous. If it's what you see, I'm flattered, but it's not me. I'm just the girl in the Anthrax shirt who gets in over her head. Figure I always will be." Speaking of getting in over her head? She really should've stepped back around now, for both their sakes.

By now, he was more looking down at her than anything else. He still didn't move, though it was for slightly different reasons now. Now it was because he wanted to know how close she was going to get on her own. There was one thing to correct, though. "...it wasn't necessarily to 'purge' it." he said. "More..." he sighed, and reached up to drag his fingers through his hair, the first overt move he'd made since he'd backed himself against the wall. "Immortalization." he landed on. "I didn't paint it to get rid of it." Which again, probably was pretty goddamn creepy of him, now wasn't it? But the way she talked about it too, that...probably caught his attention more than it should. "What about the way it mixed in with yours?" he asked, before he could bite his tongue on the question.

Yeah, Nic definitely needed to move back. She watched his fingers in his hair, ignoring the idea to let her own follow suit, to knot up there and grip tight. What the hell was this? Were action movies right? Did danger lead to hormones? Or was it just the resurfacing of things they'd talked about before and tried ignoring? She inhaled sharply at his question, lips parted like she might speak at any moment, but Nic was trying to pick her words carefully. "It was like... no line between where mine was and yours was?" she explained, not knowing if he'd understand, "It was warm, slick... just something I wanted to remember. So I kept working it around, so it wouldn't dry." Well, they were both hitting the creepy notes tonight. "Immortalization?" she echoed, "For me? Or that moment?"

"They're not seperate for me." he said, noticing that hitch in her breath before she spoke. And he could see it all so clearly. So that's what she'd been thinking about. Feeling. He'd wanted to know. "You, that moment...they're kind of the same in my head." which he didn't know if he'd explained very well, but he was never any good at that. So why start now. "What about it made you want to remember it?" he asked. It was really only then that he noticed that his voice had gotten quieter. Though if it was from the subject matter, or her close proximity, he couldn't have guessed.

"Later, it was... the night I started seeing. The night you showed me things," she told him, her lips pursing together in a quizzical smile as she mused on it. "But then? In the moment? I never had someone's blood on my hands before. Sure, I broke a nose or two, but that? That was different. I..." she sighed, shaking her head. "I don't touch people. I hit them, smack them. And you? I wanted to help because I fucked up. And you let me." She had to take the chance, there was a mad swirl of emotions inside of Nic; curiosity, longing, fear of this moment, fear of what she'd seen tonight. All of them needed some sort of reprieve. She stretched out each arm, placing her hands on either side of Caleb like he'd done that night in the orphanage and leaning in achingly close. "And then everything changed," she finished in a soft whisper.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had to wonder if that was the first time a girl had done that to him. He had a tendency towards it, sure, but most of the time it was all on his end, and people didn't do that to him in return. Until now. He had trouble not reaching out, tugging her in against him. Well, that and lowering his head down just that little bit to kiss her. That he definitely wanted to do. There was still that nagging voice in the back of his head though. That voice that reminded him that he wasn't looking to get involved with anyone. And no matter how different Nic seemed, or how compatible they appeared to be? He didn't want to fuck it up. Quite suddenly, he understood Dean a lot better. He'd spent a whole lot of time trying to convince his friend to make a move on Lullaby, and he'd always said he didn't want to fuck things up. Well, right now Caleb could appreciate that a whole lot. Right now the girl was helping him hold onto the shreds of what he called sanity. And while he joked around with her about it and everything, it was far closer to the truth than he would have liked to admit. So, logic warred with chemistry, which was definitely kicking his ass right now. Her right where she was, with what they were talking about, everything about it--and probably the lingering effects of having had an adrenaline surge earlier, and the fact that while it was stupid of her not to have left--she'd come back for him. Not the brightest move ever, but something that meant something to him. Especially for someone who had just been introduced to the fucked up in the world. So, logically speaking, he knew he should gently extract himself from the situation--but he didn't. Instead he just kept looking down at her, watching her dark eyes. "Do you consider my blood all over your hands like touching me?" he asked, voice very quiet now.

Nic laughed softly, a little rush of exhaled breath, and reached one hand from the wall to slip behind Caleb's head. Her fingers ghosted through his hair to brush across where the pressure cut had been, by now gone and healed from his bloodcraft. Again, she wanted to grab tight, to just pull him in and leave the question unanswered. But she couldn't forget that night walking home, and how they'd both confessed to wanting this. More, they'd realized there were reasons to resist that want, even if they were as simple as being there for each other. She withdrew her hand from his hair, slipping it down to Caleb's chest to grab his sweatshirt. Nic leaned in, resting her forehead on his collar and breathing in the smell of him. Sweat, skin, laundry, something coppery that might have been her imagination, but was probably blood soaked into the fabric. I can do this. "I think that even then? I knew you didn't let people see what was on the inside," she murmured into his chest, releasing her grip and taking a step back with a shuddery sigh.

One thing came through clearly for him in those moments. She could very well be the death of him one day. And not just in the flippant, she pushed his buttons then pulled back sort of way. No, really, he could see it. It was a distant realization, not one that he especially needed to think about right now. Instead, he concentrated on dialing back the reactions he naturally had to her. Like how his eyes had drifted almost shut when she'd drifted her fingers through his hair, and they'd shut completely when she'd grabbed his shirt and leaned in. He'd tilted his head forward, drawing in the scent of her hair while he was at it, fighting not to slide his arms around her to keep her there. And she probably stepped back and let go just in time because he'd been about to lose that battle. He also almost reached out to pull her back. So much so that his hand had come up to do it, but he caught it in time. Just not fast enough to hide intention there. He exhaled much like she had, and leaned back against the wall properly--though this time he pinned his hands between himself and the wall. "I don't." he agreed with her, and made a mental note that he needed to start talking in more normal tones. Really he did.

"I'd say you should?" Nic suggested in a louder tone, wishing it wasn't quite so breathless, but hey, closeness. "But... I'm selfish? I like my private level of insight." And she knew it wasn't totally private, either. He had exes, probably friends she didn't know yet who saw more about Caleb than she had or would. But he'd opened up a lot to her, and that mattered. It was something to defend, to fight for. "So yeah. I just... touched you. Ended up seeing what was on the inside." She nodded back at the painting, smiling thoughtfully. "And, with the context? I like it even more. Might have to steal it when I stop in for those pictures of you drooling." Humor! Humor was always good to diffuse an awkward situation.

She earned a little quirked part of a smile, and a short exhale of a laugh. "If you want it...you can have it." he told her. Which...he really wanted to keep it, but he hadn't expected her to like it, either. And part of him wanted her to have a reminder of what other people saw as opposed to what she did. He thought her self image could use a little editing. "And the context...knowing the blood's mine? Or...both of ours?" he asked. He almost added in there that she should wear her hair down more often, he liked it like that. But hey was that ever not his place to say. That and probably edging towards 'wildly inappropriate'. Especially with her having backed off, and he was still fighting back urges to pull her back over.

The offer surprised Nic, and she slid her arms around her ribs as she smiled down at her feet. "I couldn't, I was just kidding," she refused, looking back to Caleb wonderingly. If she knew him at all, she knew he wouldn't offer unless he was serious. And a gift like that? It was a big deal to Nic, probably to him too. "Maybe... think on it. Wait until you're done with it. If you want to keep it? Keep it. I'd come off as a pretty arrogant bitch if I had a portrait of myself hanging in my room. And I could always... just come by, if I wanted to see it." She gave a short laugh of her own, shaking her head in amusement. "God knows my mom'll wonder if I'm hanging-- oh fuck, my mom!" she blurted out, thoughts suddenly jumping tracks. "I need to use your phone. Right now. Shit, I am in for so much fucking trouble." Because a pissed off mother was worse than the rampaging werewolf, really. And suddenly, Nic knew how Caleb's bizarro-world felt.

He had been going to answer her back about it, but then she interjected with that, so he immediately dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it over. "...is she home?" he asked, thinking that she had better be. He remembered that Nic's mom worked at the hospital, a nurse, and hey! The hospital was probably a horrifying place to be right now. Or earlier, anyways. He'd put together the animal attacks and shit, so anyone who was still hospitalized at the time had gone huge, furry and homicidal there. Which...shit. This just wasn't going to go well, was it.

"No, she's working tonight," Nic muttered, already thumbing in the number for the reception desk and her mother's floor extension, "But she calls when she's working late. Midnight, every time, just to make sure I'm home." Nic hadn't been reading the papers, hadn't seen Nate's email, and as such had no clue about what was going on at the hospital. "God she's going to be pissed. Gonna bring home a breathalyzer, I bet." She trailed off as the line connected, ringing and ringing. After the fourth ring, a line formed in Nic's brow, worry showing clear and plain as she started a nervous set of pacing nearby. Fully ten rings in, Nic's worry lines faded, her eyes shutting. "Beth! It's Nicole, Emily's daughter? Yeah, no I--" she stopped, listening as the lines dropped right back in, "What? Oh... god. Oh GOD. No, no I'm fine. No, don't go get her! Christ, Beth! Don't page her either! Just tell her I called. I'm okay. I know she's going to tear me a new asshole. And I love her." She murmured a few responses to whatever else was being said, finally hanging up with a heavy sigh and tossing Caleb's phone back over.

Caleb had pushed off the wall and taken a step closer, and he caught the phone when she tossed it. "Is everything okay?" he asked, tone not betraying what he figured she'd heard on the other end there. Though if she was leaving messages, that was good. It meant that her mom was alive. He just hoped that she wasn't...say, 'injured in a fight with a tall furry patient'. Because that would probably be bad. And he'd have to start having a very different talk with Nic. Also, that bullshit he'd fed her earlier about her not killing it, and making sure to call it an 'it'...that'd go out the window.

"My mom's friend? Beth? She said a few floors down, shit went crazy," Nic answered with a worried look, knowing more about the situation after tonight than people at the hospital, despite not having been there. "Wild animals. Big ones. There's... there's gonna be a lot of work before they even figure out who died, she said. So my mom and most of the other staff got pulled down to help out. But she's okay. I just missed her, I guess." Nic looked thoughtful, chewing her lip for a long moment. "Caleb... she said there were gunshots before the cops showed up. Did people know this was going to happen or something?" Why else would there be armed people in the hospital before trouble actually hit?

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, moving to go sit on his bed, and as he walked past her, he tugged on her sleeve so she'd follow him. He sat with his back to the wall next to the window, and he dug in his pocket for his knife. He paused and wiped the blood off of the blade, since he hadn't had time earlier, and tugged his sleeve up so he could start cutting the stitches out of his arm. It was a nice distraction, and he was willing to bet it would distract her just a little too. Which really, was his goal. "The short answer is 'probably'." he said. "The long answer... With the animal attacks in town or...whatever, I only vaguely heard it, or I probably would have connected it together too...I'm sure there were hunters out tonight. I'm sure they hit the hospital in hopes of taking them down before they killed or turned anyone else."

Nic was grudging as far as following Caleb to his bed, but she did it. She settled in, arms folding across her knees just in time for Caleb's distraction to work. Nic's line of sight was definitely fixed on the precise little passes of his knife as it snipped away the stitches. "So... what? They were hanging outside these peoples' rooms, just waiting to take them down?" Not that Nic didn't get the necessity of it, she'd just seen one of the beasts in action. But in a hospital? That was just fucked up. She knew people had died, but Nic was going to have a whole other problem if any of them had died from a bullet, or a knife, or anything that wasn't claws and fangs. "And I thought you said werewolves weren't like this. I got this book from your brother's place? And it said they could spread through bites... so that's on the level, huh?"

"Not all werewolves are." Caleb said. "These...these are the bitten-kind, I guess. I'm not an expert on werewolves, just for fair warning here." he said first. "These ones can't help it, they're the crazed killing machine types. Others are born like that, and they've got control. Can change whenever they want, but they don't go on murder sprees for the hell of it." he told her. "Spreading through bites is on the level." he confirmed. "And yes, probably hunters were waiting around at the hospital to take them down." He didn't look entirely pleased by that. But then again, Caleb's own hunter-esque mentality didn't line up with that sort of shit.

"Well, that'll teach me to stop in the middle of a chapter," Nic joked dryly, though there was no humor in her expression. She'd probably keep up the jokes like usual, but now that she'd had her first encounter with the weirder side? There'd be far less humor in it. One less shred of innocence, she mused as she watched Caleb, recalling an older talk they'd had. But she'd say nothing about it now. At least Caleb seemed to line up with her as far as the thought of hunters prowling the hospital. "So... if these things changed in the hospital, and people survived, is it all going to happen again?"

Pausing as he cut through the last stitch, Caleb folded his knife again and pocketed it, starting to pull the stitches out. "That's the running theory." Caleb said. "It was why I didn't want it getting into the bar. That's a lot of people. Nevermind the dead ones, the ones who survived would be doing this next month, and I'm pretty sure not everyone who's going to survive an attack will accept the truth of the situation. And if they don't do that, then they're just going to rampage next month, kill family members and anyone else in their way. So on and so forth. Basically? We've got a werewolf problem, and there's no easy fix for it." he said. "Not unless you want to start summarily executing people. Or hunting them down at their homes, when they probably don't even know what the fuck happened to them."

She made a disgusted face at the suggestion, shaking her head. "God, no. That's just... just fucked. Wouldn't make the hunter who did that much better than the werewolves, if not worse." Though, what else could they do? If there were more people waiting to change? "Once my mom's done freaking at me, maybe I can find out about the survivors? Is there any kind of cure? I still have a chunk of the chapter to finish off, but the only cure they've mentioned is silver. And that's more of a cure for life." But there was a good chance that this was the reality of this new world. No clean solutions, no easy fixes. Just hard choices to make, decisions to live with.

"There's no cure, so far as I know." Caleb said. "And yeah, silver...that just kills them." Of course, so did slicing their throats open, but he didn't need to say that out loud. "And yeah, that's generally how I feel about a lot of hunters. But then a lot of them are only in it for the money, too. Ones who'll hunt down anything that isn't strictly human, for the right price. Happens a lot. People are afraid of anything different, and...there's a lot of people out there who'd rather the problem just went away if you know what I mean." he said. His tone betrayed what he thought of the whole thing. Basically the whole reason he'd had a spectacularly bad reaction when Leija had first said anything about him being hunter-like. he'd gotten over that bit, but it still was a hard twitch. "Finding out about the survivors? That'd be good." he said. "Honestly a coherent list would be good. I don't know what we'd do...beyond..." he paused, mind working over things. "Dropping off information anonymously. Maybe suggest a few things. I mean...they're not generally huge killing machines most of the month. Just precaution could possibly help the situation, but I don't know. I guess it depends on how much of a liability you want to be to people around you."

She wondered where witchcraft might fall into a hunter's purview, if someone with arts like Caleb would be in danger. And as a girl who'd had a hard time acting in self-defense? Nic was repulsed by the idea of killing for money, monsters or no. Saving lives? She could handle. "Well, I doubt I'll be able to get, like, a comprehensive list. But I can at least find out if there's employees who got hurt, I bet. And if I do? Then yeah, we can start a... what's the word? Lycanthropes Anonymous newsletter." She smirked again, shaking her head and reaching for the end of a stich in Caleb's arm. She braced his arm in her other hand, nails pinching a little as she eased the thread free. "So, speaking of liabilities? Namely, me? I think that tonight's a good argument to step up teaching me to handle my shit."

He had things to say. Like he wanted the list, and he wanted to see if she could get anything else. Probably, it couldn't be done, not without her mom beign told what was really going on, anyways, and he didn't know if Nic wanted to drop that bomb on the woman. And he probably would have said that right away, but then he was watching her pull a stitch out of his arm, and her nails were there, and...he had to shut down a whole host of mental images that hit. Right. They were talking. He wasn't doing anything insane, and potentially damaging. Sure. Getting his head back on track, he made himself think past that. "Get what you can, and see if you can get more...as much as possible." he said. There, that was even what they were talking about. "And yeah, I'll teach you soon. As soon as you want." he told her. Hooray relevance.

"I will," Nic told him, tugging the thread away and patting Caleb's arm, then twisting the strip of black between her fingers idly. "I'll grill her tomorrow, I'm hoping she'll be home." Nic was also hoping that whatever her mom saw tonight wouldn't be too traumatic. She could only imagine what the hospital looked like right now. "Hell, I wish I was any good with a computer. I could go up there and try to get a few minutes at someone's station." Sadly, she wasn't. Nic was an observant girl, blessed with street smarts and common wisdom, but she was sorely lacking in technical fields like computers. "Lessons will be pretty up in the air, though. Five bucks says I'm grounded," she wagered with a more genuine, challenging smile as Nic claimed Caleb's arm again, studying the tiny dots that showed where the stitch had been.

He let her take his arm, and he wondered if she had any idea how twitchy that would usually make him. Probably not. He yanked another stitch out, not being too careful with it, and the knot on one end pulled through, making a little trickle of blood well up. It was possible he'd done it on purpose. Just possible. Maybe. "I don't know anyone who's got mad hacking skills. Clearly, that's a weak point in our strategies, we'll need to find one." he said. "And grounded, huh? That mean I'll have to go to your house to teach you?" he asked.

Sighing in exasperation, Nic pinched the skin tight to push the blood past the surface and hopefully get the skin closing up faster, then wiped at the dot of blood with her other hand. She hadn't considered Caleb's twitchiness in a while now, not since they'd first hung out. After those first few times? He'd stopped, she'd forgotten. "Yeah, we might need to draft someone at school. Cook up some blackmail or something," she suggested, wiping the blood from her fingertips to her sleeve. "And if you want to brave my mother? Yeah, come on by. I think if there's someone else to laugh at a horror movie with me, she'll be less worried about my mental health. And she should be the opposite, since it's you we're talking about."

"I think generally speaking I've been telling you I'm no good for you since we met, haven't I?" he asked, smirking faintly at her treatment of his arm. One thing that was curious for him was she didn't seem to be distracted anymore by the scars that littered his skin. He tugged another stitch out. "And if I'm coming by and letting her see you laugh at horror flicks with someone--that means I'll have to meet her, doesn't it." he said.

"Hey, I think you're just fine as far as influences go. Chapman or someone would be much worse," Nic retorted with a wink, patting his arm. He was right, that arm? It didn't upset or surprise Nic by now. The rest of him would if she saw it, and if she had the time she'd study that one arm, but Nic figured Caleb wouldn't like that much scrutiny. "Hell yes you need to meet her. See, I have a strategy here," she informed him with a wider grin. "You meet my mom, I tell her you like boys, we watch as many gross movies as possible with her until she doesn't feel like she wants or needs to hang around when you're over. Then we have lesson time, uninterrupted." Nic actually managed a little laugh, removing her hands from Caleb's arm and glancing at the faint reddish sheen left on one fingertip. "Or I could tell her you already have a girlfriend? Or you could make something up. I'll leave the ball in your court there."

Caleb just watched her for a moment at that, then glanced away. Which unhelpfully brought his gaze over to the painting he'd been working on of her. See, no matter what excuse was given...it kind of cut off the possibility that one day he might want to... Yeah he wasn't thinking about that. "I'm sure I'll think of something." he said instead, pulling out a few more stitches, vaguely wanting it over now, because he liked her holding onto his arm like that, and that wasn't a good thing. So, rush through. That worked. Made sense and everything.

"Well, it's just a stopgap for if I'm grounded and we have to hang out at my place," Nic reminded him, watching more intently as he pulled the stitches free. "If not? No reason to burn up the braincells thinking. And seriously, with my mom? You could be built like a Ken doll, and she'd still hope for something to happen." Which didn't quite mesh with the reason why they needed a cover? But to Nic, it made sense. Her mom would be thrilled with a potential boyfriend, but she'd never stop bothering them either. "Really, I like it over here. Your room's smaller? But your house is quieter." Which made her decide to come sleep here the next time she couldn't get out of a Wednesday at school. So long as Caleb was in class? She could get away with it.

"That's because I have older brothers who's idea of a good time isn't hanging around the house." Caleb said. Though he was thinking vaguely of his own parents, something that put him in a foul frame of mind--so he shoved that away. "If she wants you to have a boyfriend, why wouldn't she leave us alone now and then to have some private time?" he asked, catching the logic flaw. "Unless she wants you to have a boyfriend, but not do anything that that sort of thing entails."

"Give the man a cigar," Nic congratulated him, crooking her finger to fire it like a gun at Caleb. "I think... she still worries about me more than I worry about me. It's been three years? But she's still waiting for me to break down, or to just... live a normal life. And a boyfriend's part of that, right?" She shook her head, reaching up to tuck a braid behind her ear and looking down at Caleb's arm again as he rushed his stitches, following the arc of one scar as it led towards his elbow. "I wish I could save her some time and tell her about tonight. 'Normal' isn't going to be my friend any time soon, I think. But whatever, fuck it. I've got better ones." Which was about as sappy as she could let herself be before she'd want someone to hit her with a car. Twice.

"At least she worries." Caleb muttered. Then internally winced. "Sorry. But yeah. It's good she worries. Probably annoying, but...something." He'd after all, tried to kill himself and hadn't heard word one from his mom. Or his dad for that matter. He quirked a faint smile at that last bit, though. "I'd say that having a boyfriend is normal depending on the boyfriend, and thanks. I rate higher than normality. I'll take it." he said. He paused. "...You could tell her. I won't say it'd be easy, but...you could try."

She nodded, wondering just what she'd do when the inevitable explanation to her mother came. "Tell her about the werewolf? Or about you?" she asked, smirking faintly and shaking her head, "Because if it's the second one, someone has a very high opinion of himself." She reached out to nudge Caleb with her elbow, knowing that was about as far from true as anything could be. "I think I'm gonna try? But yeah, it'll be rough. maybe the hospital has some security footage or something she could see as proof." And unspoken in there? Yeah, she'd talk about Caleb too. Nothing removed the sting of weirdness like some mundane aspects of life. 'So, mom, I met this boy...'

"Definitely not me, thanks..." Caleb said, giving her a mock Look. "But yeah, I'm sure she'll have heard a lot of the same stories, and...I'm sure she's seen the injuries that the werewolves dealt out. Those things together...she might believe you. If not, I suggest you start looking up how to do white magic, or something. Look into wards--because no matter what happened, I'm positive there'll be people left behind that got injured but not killed, and who'll just start this shit over next month."

"Bare minimum, her ass is staying home with me for the next full moon," Nic decided, sticking her tongue out at Caleb when he shot her that look. "I don't care if I have to grab her before she leaves and say 'mom, I'm pregnant'. Tonight's the kind of luck you don't push twice, you know?" And as much as she'd been scared in the street, the idea of losing her mother to one of those beasts terrified Nic far more. "Wards? White magic? You mean anyone can learn to do shit like you were doing? And I know, I know. I'm not going to try blood magic."

He shrugged one shoulder. "In theory. I never could pull it off, but it's supposedly something anyone can learn. I wouldn't hurt for you to try and take it up." Caleb told her. "Or find someone else who does it. There's always that option. I think I saw a flier for a shop or some shit, but even if you do go that way--look into it anyhow. I'd feel better if I knew you were learning non-confrontational ways of defending yourself and your mom."

Nic sighed, smiling a little. The night was catching up to her as everything they talked about piled higher and higher, but she didn't want to end it yet. Not under any circumstances, in fact. Right where she was sitting felt a lot safer than she thought her own house would. "Magic classes? Between those and the job I still don't know if I have, goodbye free time. Pretty crafty way to ditch me, Lockwood," she teased, leaning back on his bed with an elbow under her. The distance would help her resist the urge to trace his scars, if nothing else.

"You don't think you're going to get rid of me that easy, do you?" Caleb asked, her, smirking faintly. "Obviously, you're on my mind a lot." he said, glancing back towards the painting, then to her again. "And c'mon, it's not like you spend all your school time actually studying school shit. I'm sure you could read a book on white magic during study hall or whatever. It'll free up your nights for learning how to hamstring things." he told her, mock-brightly at the end there.

It was flustering how, despite both of their attempts to toe around the subject, little reminders kept popping up of the tension between them. On his mind. Damn. She looked down and grinned a bit, hoping he'd miss it for as long as it took to compose herself. Which wasn't long, thankfully. "Yeah, guess I'll brush up on my magic lessons during lunch or something," she agreed, grinning more openly over his last comment. "You know I'm dying to start that shit. Hell, after tonight? No reason not to start."

"After tonight, you should be aware that what i'm going to teach you won't cover you in a lot of situations." Caleb said with a bit of a sigh. He caught the little smile thing, but didn't say anything about it. He'd been riding the line there with the comment in the first place, he was aware of that. "So, be a good little girl, and look up white magic, and maybe you won't ever have to test it out." Then he paused. "...so does this mean, if I ever call you and ask you to stay inside, and keep your mom home if possible, you'll listen to me?" he asked, going back to her point about keeping her mom inside next month.

"Depends," Nic told him honestly, not really wild about the question or everything unspoken with it. "If you call, I want to know why, okay?" She sat up, frowning and thinking on the different things she'd already read about in her books. Vampires, demons, witches? How many of them did Caleb tangle with? He'd told her about his suicide attempt, how he'd gone out and picked every fight he could. "I... you can't teach me to handle this shit, then try to keep me from helping. I know it's dangerous, and I get that you worry? But I worry too. And I want to be there if you need help. So... just tell me what's going on, give me the decision, we'll play it by ear."

He was quiet for a moment, that thought crossing his mind again. That he could see himself getting killed because of her. Not that she'd try it, not that she'd want that, but...he could see it. "I get you wanting to help, and I get you worrying." he said carefully. "But to be harshly honest, Nic, if you're with me, and something's going down? I'm going to be worrying about you." he told her. "Which means I'm compromised. Which means you won't be helping, you'll be distracting me, and probably making yourself a target. I know that's not what you want to hear...and I'm sorry, but..." It was the truth.

Despite his disclaimer, and the fact that Nic knew he meant it, her temper spiked. Her eyebrows drew together crossly as she looked over at Caleb, shaking her head in defiance. "So... what? I'm supposed to hide in my house every time shit goes wrong and hope you're okay? I'm going to learn how to defend myself just... because? Like a security blanket?" Even if she hated it, she knew he had a point. It was why she'd run for the car when they'd been attacked. She trusted Caleb, he knew this world better than she did, but she didn't want him to be right on this count. "What if I can't get home, you're not there, and all I've done is fuck around practicing with you?"

"Did I not just say that you should look into picking up white magic?" Caleb asked. "I'm trying to give you more of an edge, but white magic isn't offensive, Nic. It's defensive. Which won't help. Not really, and you knowing how to defend yourself isn't going to stop a werewolf running you down. A ward might, though. And even if you get good at that and have that shit down, you'd still just be there, a target. Your best bet is to get someplace safe, and wait it out. Or...I don't know. Pick up first aid too, along with the white magic, so that if anything happens and I need the medical attention? You could help me with it. Last time I went into the hospital they kept me for two weeks, and I had a lot of explaining to do about this shit." he said, tugging his sleeve back up to indicate the scars there. "I'm not doing it again." he was quiet for a moment, knowing that she hated this. But...it was Nic, and he wanted to be honest with her. Not fully sugarcoat anything, because that wasn't what he did with her. "You're a normal girl, and the shit that gets dealt with in the supernatural world requires more than that, Nic. Otherwise, you're just waiting to be a victim, and I really can't have that."

She listened to all of that, wishing her frustration would budge even an inch against the logic Caleb was dishing out. Some part of her, the anger that rarely abated, bristled at how he was dictating what she should and shouldn't do, whispering that he wanted a good little helper. Nic knew it wasn't the case, but those feelings didn't let up. He had a real point; she was just herself, she couldn't do any of the things her books talked about, she would've just stood there and been eaten if Caleb hadn't snapped her out of her panic. But her two sides of thought clashed together, spurring Nic to hop off the bed with a growl of frustration. She stalked past the painting, walking to the closed door to rail a fist against it and feeling the sting in her arm help bleed off her anger. "Okay," she murmured heatedly, turning to look back to Caleb, "Make me a deal, at least. I study, I practice my ass off. I get so good at this white magic shit that I retroactively show up in fucking folklore books. If I do, give me a chance to take some risks?"

Watching her, he didn't like seeing her like this, but it also didn't surprise him in any fashion. He didn't flinch at all when she hit the door, and just looked back at her when she turned back to him. "We'll see. I'm not going to be talked into bringing you into a situation where you're going to get yourself killed, Nic. Or me. Because I can't exactly help you if I'm dead. So, learn what you're going to learn, and we'll talk then." he said. Because no, he wasn't handing her an agreement on something when it still might mean she was a huge liability. He thought about Lullaby's funeral. How Dean was after her death. And Nic didn't have a get out of death free card, did she? So he wouldn't have the luxury of her coming back.

She wanted to punch the door again, or the wall, or Caleb himself. Nic was surprised by how much it could burn, after everything they'd shared, to be told that she was a liability. But if she lashed out? She'd confirm his feelings on some level, showing him she was too impatient, too willing to dive into things just for his sake. And he's right. Fucking dickmouth. So she shut her eyes, breathing hard through her nose as her hands balled up with her nails digging into her palms, and Nic made a choice. She wasn't going to wait for his lessons, she'd find a way to toughen up on her own, to be ahead of what he expected when training actually started. She'd go to Nevermore again, find a book or someone in this fucked up town to teach her the magic he was talking about. Tear his fucking expectations apart, girl, she told herself, looking at Caleb finally. "Fine," she muttered eventually, "I'm going to hold you to that, you know. Don't think you can back out because you want me safe, Caleb. I'm in this shit now. I'm not gonna change my mind. You need all the help you can get."

He kept his eyes on her, and he didn't say anything for a long moment. Instead, he studied her, just made his own assessments on things, and in the end, they weren't necessarily good ones. He kept coming back to it. That idea that she was going to get him killed. And she wouldn't mean it, and she wouldn't ever forgive herself for it, but it wouldn't bring him back, either. For someone who looked at is own death in a passive sort of way, where he wouldn't shy from it if the situation arose, he didn't really want that on his head. Even if he died and the lights just went out and he'd never know the difference, he still didn't want it on him. "I didn't say anything about changing your mind. I haven't tried to talk you out of this, Nic, if you failed to notice that." he said, because he didn't appreciate her tone, and the way she seemed to be painting him. "I even handed you something that would help you the most, the idea of learning white magic, so tone it the fuck down on your pissed off righteous anger riff."

"I'm trying." She said it plainly, biting back the harsher edge the words felt like they might have as she moved back over towards the bed. Nic crouched on the balls of her feet near the edge, dropping to his eye level and bouncing to try and burn off some of her frustrated energy. "Just... I remember shit? You told me before that the things you couldn't say, you'd say them when my innocence was gone? Some shit like that. And that was before I saw all this. And I feel like... if you could keep me clear of all of it, of what I even saw tonight? You would. And I don't want to be pissed, and I'm not pissed at you. I'm pissed at me. Okay? This?" she said, waving a hand under her own face, "This whole royal bitch routine? It's like a gun to my own head. I feel like I'm not going to measure up, like you're going to see it and cut me off for my own good. And it'll be right of you. But it makes me want to put my head through your fucking door because I'm in this stupid, crazy-girl circular logic trap. Like I'm deciding you're passing judgment on me, then I'm passing it on you in return, but you haven't even done it in the first place. And I'm just making myself madder and madder."

Watching her eyes, Caleb didn't say anything for a long moment. When he did speak, his tone was quieter than it had been, though it didn't lack the strength behind the words. "Honestly, Nic, if I could have kept all of this from you, I would have wanted to." he said. "But that's not exactly the world I live in right now. Or we live in. Not with the shit that's been going down in this town lately. So I'd rather you know, and learn more about everything, than be in the dark, and not know the score. Whether I would want to keep all of this from you or not, that's not going to happen, and all it'll do is make you less able to look out for yourself. Because even if I want to be? I'm not always going to be there. If I am? You're in the clear as long as I'm still standing, but...otherwise..." he shook his head. "Learn what you can, and don't seek out the fight before you're ready for it. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be beating down your door soon enough. At the rate shit is going...there's a storm coming. Don't go looking for it before it's here. Just be ready when it happens."

Nic stopped the bounce she had going on the balls of her feet, eyes shutting again as she listened and forced steady breaths one after the other. "Would you have kept me out for my sake? Or yours?" she asked, eyes snapping open as she vigorously shook her head, "Don't answer that, I didn't mean it." And that was true, it was another bleed from her temper seizing her tongue. This was hard for Nic, because knowing that her anger was misplaced made her have to wonder why she was trying to poison her friendship with Caleb, and why she was deciding so freely that she wasn't up to standards. Caleb didn't seem to see her like that, she had his words, his art, and more as proof. "Look, I think by now you know I can be a real shit, right? So... bear with me? Fucking call me on it every time, like you just did. Don't let me fuck things up." She scooted closer, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching out to squeeze Caleb's hand. "I'm sorry," Nic added quietly, forcing herself to look at him when she said that, just to prove it wasn't a token apology.

He quirked a faint little half smile. "It's a little harder to hurt my feelings than that, but apology accepted. And I'll call you on it. Trust me." he told her. And really, that was one thing he appreciated about her. He felt like he could. Just right then and there, he could call bullshit, and it would actually have an effect. And not a devastating, friendship-ending one. "I'm not exactly the easiest person to deal with in the world either, so...we're even."

"Not yet we're not," Nic insisted, sighing a little and fighting the urge to smile. "Either you owe me one for my crack-fucking-driving, or I owe you one for making my stupid ass run. We'll figure it out eventually, who owes who and all that shit." She almost leaned in to kiss him, wanting to smirk and say 'even' with the gesture, but with what they'd just been discussing? Yeah, even with her conflicted mindframe, she knew how hot-and-cold that would seem of her. And Nic refused to be That Crazy Girl, if she could help it at all. She'd rather be frustrated and repress it than give him more shit to be tormented and confused over.

"I'm sure there'll be an appropriate tally somewhere." Caleb told her. "So, we can figure out the score later. For right now...you feeling slightly better about things?" he asked, wanting to be sure she was okay. "And not just about you, and your ability to join in a fight. About what you saw tonight." he clarified for her. "You said there were going to be questions..."

She sighed, releasing his hand and reaching up to tug idly at a braid as she nodded. "I think so," Nic answered, "As far as me-shit goes, I just have to think about it. Get myself together, decide I'm okay with me, y'know? That won't be your problem, but if I need to talk to you about it, I will." But there was more to it, of course. His clarification touched on a lot more that was going on inside her head. "Tonight? I don't know. I think I'd be lying if I said I was fine, and I don't want to, not with you. I probably won't sleep until I have no other choice. I might get fucking weepy about..." basically killing someone, seeing a monster, wondering when my mom'll hit trouble, "... the whole thing, but I'll handle it. At least it's the weekend." Nic smiled thoughtfully, shoulders shrugging. "I ran through all my questions already. Y'know, the bites, is there a cure, blah blah blah. So you're off the hook there."

He nodded, and wanted to ask her if she had any other general questions, but didn't push it. Really, the ones that came to mind for him weren't anything he wanted her asking in the first place. "It's a lot to deal with." he said. "Give yourself time to do it. You don't have to be okay with everything by tomorrow, most people...it just takes a while." he assured her. Or, that's what he'd experienced, anyhow. "Maybe when Dean gets back or something, you can talk to him about it a little...he didn't always know either. I have, so it's...different for me."

Nic'd try to take the advice, to be patient and hope for things to sort themselves out in her head. She could always go running or tagging or anything else that'd occupy her mind or exhaust her body. And maybe she'd need to call Caleb if she just couldn't handle it, but for now Nic was more focused on what he'd said at the end there. "You just... always knew? Like it's a family thing?" she asked, frowning thoughtfully over that. Was someone in his family a hunter or something? Why else would he have just grown up with the truth of things? "How's that work? Kids' books like 'V Is For Vampire'?" she joked wryly.

He knew she meant it to be a joke there, but he didn't smile. No, growing up in his house...just no. His mother was an ascended demon, and just because she'd fallen in love and gotten her demon card taken away didn't mean she'd become a good person. Love did not conquer all. "I just always knew." he said, not clarifying if it was a family thing or not, because it was, and he still wasn't ready to tell people. He had considered telling Dean, but that was only after he'd taken care of a corpse for the guy and then stitched him up while he screamed. There was a level of trust there that wasn't usually displayed so blatantly. And while he wanted to trust Nic like that...it had to be earned, and he still hadn't known her that long. So...he wasn't coming out with that just yet.

Non-answer or no, Nic had the hunch that his source of knowledge was tied to one of those things Caleb couldn't tell her yet, if ever. And as much as she wanted him to trust her enough? That wouldn't just happen, it'd take time if it came to be at all. It didn't mean she'd stop wondering, and she figured he knew that. "Must've made for a weird time growing up," she commented dryly, leaning over to bump Caleb with a shoulder. "No witty rejoinder required either." It was an easy out, one she only made because even if she lacked specifics? She knew that Caleb did better without lingering over things he couldn't share.

"It made for a very isolated time growing up." Caleb told her. Which was pure truth. He didn't go into it further, but he meant it. And on several levels. Isolated because his brothers were mostly grown and out of the house before he got to know either of them. Isolated because his parents probably hadn't even noticed he'd dropped off the face of the planet for a week when he was sixteen. Isolated because he would look around, and all of the petty, completely bullshit worries people had around him, the shit people cared about...he couldn't connect. So--isolated. On a grand scale.

If she'd said it out loud? Nic would realize she was wrong. But she felt like she could empathize. In the orphanage, Nic had been removed from everyone and everything on a level no one else there could understand. Sure, they'd all been orphans. But every other kid there had memories; they could say they'd seen a movie, or recognize a person on TV. They could say they had a name. "I get isolation," she said plainly instead of sharing her thoughts. Maybe that was why she trusted him. Even if their experiences weren't identical, they were similar. And for someone who'd never had that? Nic found it to be truly reassuring. "But you're not alone here. Not until you decide you want to be, and you tell me to fuck off," she told him sincerely, "Then I'll break your jaw and leave." She smiled faintly, somehow bizarrely amused by the back-and-forth they had tonight, swapping emotional distress between each other.

"Well, at least you'll give me something to remember you by." Caleb said drily. He quirked a half smile at her. "When's your mom get off of work?" he asked. Which he knew was a subject jump, but he was thinking longer term right now. Say, the night, or what was left of it.

"Well... she said four A.M. when she left? But with everything going on, it might be later," Nic told him, frowning as she wondered about it herself. How bad was it at the hospital? Would her mom even have the energy to chastise her, in the wake of what had reportedly happened? "It was supposed to be a double, might turn into a triple from what her friend said." And really, with that? Nic needed to think of something to do for her mom, some way to help out or show her gratitude. Not that she'd bring up fluffier thoughts like that with Caleb.

"Think you can stay here until dawn?" Caleb asked. "The danger will be over by then." Or it should be. He didn't know exactly when werewolves turned back, but he knew it wasn't into the next day. So, dawn should work. "You can crash in here if you want, or...whatever. But I'd rather if you just waited it out here than went home, even if I was driving you there."

Nic liked the offer, though she didn't think she'd end up crashing. Maybe she would if she got tired enough. But at home? She'd probably sit in the bathroom until she heard her mother come in. "Let me see your phone again?" she asked, holding a hand out. "I want to let my mom know, just in case she gets in early." Which would probably mean a prelude to her punishment, but Nic could deal with that if it meant she could feel safe until sunrise.

Caleb handed over the phone, and got up, grabbing the paint water with the brushes in it, giving her a little privacy as she called. He went to dump the water, and wondered where Leija and Rose were. He'd left messages, and he needed to hear back. He'd probably call again once he got Nic settled. He paused, and looked at his reflection in the mirror for a long moment, before he turned, flicking the light back out, and heading back to his room.

The phonecall was halfway in when Caleb got back, Nic was on her feet, and from her expression it was obvious that she was working to not shout into the phone. "Yes, mom! A big fucking wolf or bear or something. No, I'm not hurt. I wasn't hurt ten seconds ago when you asked." She shot an irritated look Caleb's way before turning her back on him, glancing out his bedroom window thoughtfully for a moment. "No, I'm at Caleb's. Yes, that Caleb. There's only one in school. No! I haven't been drinking! Christ, mom? I'm fine, we can spend all Saturday doing this, okay? Just... I'm okay. I'll be home when it's light out. I love you." She lingered for a moment, smiling faintly to herself and finally tossing Caleb's phone back to him.

He caught it, and arched a brow at her. "I take it you're in trouble." he said. And, he'd noted that apparently she'd mentioned him to her mom already. Which gave him a faint half-smirk that he couldn't quite suppress fully. "At least you're staying here." he added. He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, eyes on her.

"I knew I was in trouble when I called the first time," Nic told him, arms crossing over her chest as she met Caleb's gaze. "But yeah, I'm staying. She said... they needed all the help." Identifying people who didn't make it. And her mom hadn't been specific? But she didn't need to be. "So since I'm safe, she told me to stay put and be smart. And to tell you she owns a rifle." Nic had to smirk at that, figuring Caleb wouldn't buy any menace from that even though he hadn't met her mother yet.

"I'll keep that in mind." Caleb said. "I'm good, but bullets? They'll still kill me." he said. Like Dean, with his one-shot drop of a guy who was probably a lot better than I am at blood magic. "If you want a shirt or anything..." he nodded towards his dresser. "You can borrow something." Which could possibly just a tiny little bit have been not the purest of intentions. 99% of it was, but there was that one last percent that just kind of wanted to see her in a shirt of his.

She raised an eyebrow at him for a moment, biting back a smartass comment accusing him of what that one percent was thinking, nodding instead. "That'd be cool," Nic told him, moving for his dresser, "You got any sweats, too? I've been getting nervous sweat in these clothes all fucking night, now. I probably smell like a jockstrap by now." She smirked at Caleb a little, looking away and tugging off her sweatshirt, arms up over her head as she peeled it away to reveal a ratty old 'Helmet' shirt underneath.

He definitely wasn't thinking about a girl undressing in his room. Particularly not one he happened to be attracted to. "There's flannel pants in one of the drawers. You can snag some." he said. "And we have a bathroom with a shower and everything if you wanted to take one." he added, since she mentioned the whole sweating all night thing. He smirked at her. "Scout's honor I won't bother you." he told her, unable to resist that little comment.

"Bet your ass you won't," Nic told him sternly, grabbing a long-sleeved shirt and draping it across herself briefly to compare the size. "Not unless you want your face to melt right off your skull, Indiana Jones-style. Plus? I'll deal with being grimy for a few more hours." It was too girly to admit that she just liked her own shampoo, her towel at home, her robe. And? Being nude in Caleb's bathroom would just be weird. She tugged open another drawer, digging around and coming up with the folded flannels after a moment. Draping them with the shirt she'd opted for, Nic started back towards the door of Caleb's room. "Should I change in the bathroom? Or just kick you out of here with more threats of face-melting?"

He held up his hands. "The room's yours." he told her. "I'll just be out in the living room. Make yourself at home." he said. Just don't find and read my journal. he thought. Which he didn't think she would do, but it momentarily gave him a twitch. But oh well. He backed out of the room anyhow, then turned to head for the living room, opening his phone already to text both Leija and Rose, hopefully he'd get an answer.

She would've been offended by the thought, so it was good that Nic wasn't any kind of psychic. Sure, poking around his room could be revealing. It could also severely fuck over the understanding they had. So she waited until Caleb had left, then worked quick to change. Nic peeled off her shoes and socks, sitting on his bed and rubbing her feet down, then quickly set to stripping off her own clothes and pulling on Calebs. She slipped out of his room quietly, her own clothes heaped on her backpack in the bedroom, and moved for the bathroom. Her hands and face needed a wash, then she'd go find Caleb.

Caleb had dropped into the chair that was nearest the window overlooking the street in the living room, leaving the room dark so he could see outside better. It looked all quiet, but he knew it wasn't. He was actually thinking about how far it was to Leija's, to campus. He didn't especially want to leave Nic here, but he didn't want to get bad news tomorrow about either other girl he generally thought of as under his protection either. Now if they'd just fucking call him back, he'd be feeling a lot better. He heard her moving around, going from his room to the bathroom, and then water running. Well, at least she was settling in.

Again, it was girlier than Nic liked, but she wished she had her makeup here. Some powder or eyeliner would be nice. Still, she was careful about making sure that none of what she had on got left behind on a towel, blotting her face dry and heading out to the living room. She lingered in the mouth of the hallway, leaning against a wall and looking over to where he sat on the chair, digging her bare toes into the carpetting with a little smirk. It wasn't meant for Caleb so much as for the situation itself. Sleepovers, what the hell. "Everything okay?" she asked, tugging up the sleeves of the shirt she had on.
Not looking back towards Nic but feeling her behind him, he didn't answer immediately. "I'm wondering where Leija and Rose are." he admitted, eyes still out the window at the perfectly peaceful seeming night. Hell he didn't even see flashing lights in the distance, though he thought he heard sirens. The hospital wasn't that far away, after all. "...and basically what happens if I go to find them."

"Well, the first thing that happens is I ask to go with you," Nic answered, frowning in concern. Everything had hit her so surprisingly that until that moment? She hadn't considered that Nate or Drea or Lily might be out there. Maybe Jesse, even. "And you probably say no. And I bitch at you, but we both know it'll pass." She moved around so she could see Caleb, settling on a sofa and folding her legs under her. "You think they're out there? Rose sounded like she had enough issues that she'd probably be inside." As for Leija? Well, Nic wasn't fit to comment.

"I don't know." Caleb said honestly. "All I know is that Rose is here because of me, and even if I didn't ask for the responsibility, it's mine now. And Leija...I just...I'm not going to just leave her out there if she is." he said. He didn't know how to properly explain it, so it would make sense. He even understood it was kind of irrational of him, but then again, he'd never had problems with being irrational before. Why start now. "I'd feel better if you stayed here." he said. "...I could probably call my brother. See if he can come home."

Nic shook her head at the suggestion, though she was curious about both of Caleb's brothers. Even if one was apparently a dick. "You don't have to," she told him, "I'll just hang out, watch some TV or listen to music in your room. Once the sun's coming up, if you're still out? Well, I'm gonna call until I get an answer. But I can walk home." She thought this was what he might need to hear, after the argument they'd had. That she could stay back for his peace of mind, he could do what he was compelled to. But at the same time, Nic needed to stress the part about calling, about her commitment to backing him up, even if it was in such a minor sense.

He did seem a little relieved, though he figured he'd be calling Math anyways, to see if he could get him to come home. Sit with Nic, just be in the house. Something. He didn't want her alone, and unfortunately, he couldn't be in two places at once. Or, three, considering his current predicament. "You aren't walking home." he told her first, since that was damn important to him. "Even if there werewolves will be shut down by then...there's got to be hunters crawling around out here and I don't want any of them with an itchy fucking trigger finger deciding not to take chances or...or anything." He stood, and walked over towards her, leaning one hand down on the arm of the couch next to her, looking down at her.

She looked back up at Caleb, scowling a little. "You? Are a bossy dick," she chided, sighing and stretching out a little. "So I should just sit here until you get back? Or call my mom and have her pick me up? That'll sound great. 'I'm at Caleb's.' 'Where's Caleb?' 'Fucked if I know.'" But she was smirking lightly, trying to show the tease in there. Granted, she wasn't thrilled about all of this, but it seemed pretty crucial to him. So at least for tonight, she could indulge Caleb's issues with safeguarding her.

He smirked faintly. "Well, if I'm not here, you don't have to explain how it is you spent the night but we weren't doing anything." he said. "So look on the bright side." He reached out with his free hand, and mussed her hair, resisting the urge to trace his fingers along her cheek. He did tuck her hair behind her ear, though, letting that touch linger for a moment. "I'm going to call one more time." he told her.

Nic stopped herself too late, leaning into the touch slightly, her cheeks coloring much more noticeably without her usual layer of concealant on. "Do that," she told him, reaching up to grab Caleb's hand by the wrist, "Tell them how you just got put on the floor by a girl." She tugged his arm towards her lightly, smirking. Nic probably could've hauled him over if she really tried, but this moment was for lighter jokes, not physicality. No matter how unexpected it might be.

He got pulled a little off balance towards her, catching himself with his hand on the arm of the couch, but he got closer to her. "What was that?" he asked. And really there were a few different things that he would have liked to have done right then, but he didn't have the time for it. Plus, there was that nagging voice in the back of his mind that wouldn't quite let him get over the idea that if he got involved with her, he was going to lose her, one way or another.

"I said: I will flip you onto the floor if you push me," she murmured, arms drawing in towards her body as he suddenly loomed close in the space above her. "Or out a window." They were probably sharing ideas in that moment, as far as things either of them would like to do, but there were more pressing matters for Caleb to deal with. Nic? Well, Nic had a lot of waiting ahead of her, most likely. "...You're supposed to be calling again," she reminded him after a moment, smiling and reaching up to jab Caleb in the ribs with a finger.

He made a slight face at the poke, and reached down to snag her finger. "So I am." he said. He held onto her finger for another moment, then straightened, and headed into the kitchen, to lean against the counter and listen to the ringtones in his ear, willing people to pick up.

*~*~*

The town had gone to hell again. Leija hadn't connected the attacks with a werewolf in particular; she'd more thought it had been a rouge demon or ... something else. But it all came together quickly enough through the day, and the night already had been taxing. She'd been called to two people so far, both horrifically gory. There were a lot of people not out, which was good, but the poor young man she'd just flown away from had just been trying to cross campus to get home, presumably. She'd had about twenty seconds with him, and no time to process mentally yet. She found a roof, landed and crouched, and pulled her phone out, belatedly realizing there was blood on her hands. Leija scrubbed it on her jeans. She had a text and a voicemail, neither of which she looked at, and was about to call Caleb back when it started to ring again. Leija answered immediately. "I'm alive, not hurt. You?" she said, getting to the point.

"Same." Caleb said, exhaling lightly with relief at the sound of her voice. "Where are you?" he asked. Hopefully not out somewhere, that would be an awesome thing to hear. He didn't even care where she happened to be, so long as it wasn't out and about. And if she was, then...he was going to ask very nicely that he get her ass someplace safe, so he could quit worrying about her. That'd be nice.

"On a roof near campus," she said, looking around herself. She wasn't exactly positive. She'd pulled her wings in to stop being a flaming beacon of 'hey, here I am', and the cold was seeping into her back more deeply. "I got called. But probably on my way back home for now. ... I need a shower. Where are you?" she asked back. She hoped he wasn't out, but knew better than to really bank on it.

"Home, currently." Caleb said. "Are you okay?" he asked. "And you'll go home and stay there?" Because he'd feel a lot better then. Then he just had to worry about Rose's whereabouts. He needed to be able to track people down or something. Have them electronically tagged. ...because that wasn't creepy of him at all.

Was she okay? She was coming to loathe that question, really. There was no really good answer for it. At least he was home, that was something. "I'll go home and stay there unless I have to leave again," she said, her tone a bit dull. She was tired. She bypassed the okay question; she was alive and unscathed physically and that was good enough for the moment. "Are you staying home? Math and Dorian okay?"

"...depends." he admitted, for a second considering lying to her, but eh. He didn't generally do that, so he didn't start now. "And I don't know. Generally I assume that they can take care of themselves. Dor's got some...score to settle or something, so he's probably out hunting. Math...no idea." Caleb said. "but...good, go home, stay there unless you have to leave. Call me in the morning, alright?" he asked. "So I know you're still okay." Or, as okay as she was going to get. It wasn't like he missed the fact that she'd skipped the question. He just wasn't going to press her right now.

"Yes Dad," she said, but there was a little smile in her voice. Despite everything? She still liked it when he was protective. Even in situations where it would be insane for him not to be, like this one. "Take care of yourself, whether you stay home or not, okay? ... which you should really, really do, but I know better than to think you're going to listen to me on that one. I'll talk to you when the sun's up."

"I still have to get ahold of Rose." Caleb told her. "If she calls back, or answers? I'll be staying in." he assured her. At least he could give her that much, that he wasn't actually out picking fights with shit that if he missed on that first shot? Could probably shred him in absolutely no time. It wasn't like he was built to take on things that outweighed him by probably two hundred pounds and had claws and fangs that rivaled most demons'.

... oh fuck, she hadn't even really thought about Rose. Or at least connected her with campus, where she'd just watched a guy get basically torn in half. Oh please, girl, have the good sense to have stayed in tonight, please please please. "Okay, call her, and I'll call too, and if you get a hold of her, text me after? And I'll do the same. Because this guy ... he was right here on campus, they're around here," she said. She didn't want to freak him out, but that seemed like important information.

"Fuck." he swore softly under his breath. "Yes, please, call, I'll do that too, if not...it's Friday, did you notice...I don't know. Anything going on on campus while you were there?" Not that he figured she would have been paying attention, but who knew. Also, Rose wasn't exactly a party girl, but if a werewolf got attracted to one, it could have got inside a dorm, which would mean it could have got to her somehow. A long shot, he knew, but still. Not one he was willing to discount. "And I think they're everywhere, Leija. Got one downtown."

"Yeah, there was one in ... that grocery store lot, can't remember the name ... hell, doesn't matter. I didn't notice anything going on, everything looks pretty empty and quiet now ..." But they were wasting time. "But go, call, between us we'll get a hold of her," she said, sounding more confident of that than she really felt. Her stomach felt all sinky, but she couldn't freak out until they didn't get her on the phone. They'd blow it up trying first. "Touch base later," she said, ready to hang up and speed dial Rose.

"Okay." Then he paused. "Who's calling first? I get it if she doesn't necessarily want to talk to me, did you want to try before me, or...?" he said, so they weren't trying to call the girl at exactly the same time. That wouldn't help out anyone at the moment.

Leija kind of thought under the circumstances that 'doesn't necessarily want to talk to me' was bullshit if it was true, but perhaps Rose didn't really know the circumstances. And if she did? She was surely freaked the fuck out. "... I'll call first. Give a minute and then you try," she decided.

"Alright." Caleb said, sinking against the kitchen counter. "Contact me either way...and thanks." Then he paused. "....if I asked, would you do it from home?" He knew she could get there in about .2 seconds with her wings. And that hard twitch that just wanted her someplace safe was still in full gear.

"On my way now," she said, popping her wings out again. She hung up and took to the sky to cross the brief distance between there and home, not really giving much of a shit if she was seen at this point.
*~*~*

The number of missed calls on Rose's phone was staggering and given the sirens and a few panicking girls leaving campus, Rose had to worry that there was something bad going on, something more than just one person hurt somewhere. Especially since the sirens didn't seem to stop, they'd fade out and then pick up again, heading in a different direction - rinse and repeat.

After talking to Leija, Rose leaned against the window by the exit, looking out at the dimly lit parking lot. It felt like the end of the world somehow, she was sure her family was dead now, she was sure people at school would ostracize her. Add to that the sirens and the missed calls and everything just felt upside down. Not to mention spinning.

Leija had been worried about her and then she'd insisted that she stay inside but Rose felt too nauseous from the alcohol to really obey that. She just really needed fresh air, so she opened the door partially before calling Caleb, to make sure he also knew that she was okay.

Caleb picked up the phone before it was even done with the first ring. "Rose?" he asked immediately. "Are you okay? Where are you?" Yep. The guy was worried, and that sounded in his tone, in no uncertain terms.

"I'm at the dorms," Rose replied, closing her eyes as she breathed in the cold air. She made to with sticking her face out though, not wearing warm enough clothes to deal with full on outside mode. Plus, Leija had told her to stay inside and Caleb sounded... Wow, he sounded worried.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I forgot my phone in my room and, no I didn't forget, I didn't have pockets and there was this stupid party and I didn't want to go." Thinking about it made her want to cry all over again. Or just throw up. "Are you okay?" She asked again, wondering if she sounded as stupid to him as she did to herself.

"I'm fine, I just...there's shit going on, remember when I told you there'd be times where I wanted you to listen to me, no questions asked?" he asked. "Now's one of them. You're--are you still at the party? Can you get to your room without walking outside?" he asked, trying to think through this.

Rose grimaced at the thought of going back up there to the music and the stupid people but she grudgingly replied, "Yeah. I'm downstairs. It's all in the dorm, all over, lots of rooms. I wish they'd just go to sleep already." She pressed her head against the doorframe, opening her eyes when things started spinning around her too fast. "Are the gangs back?" She asked tiredly. "Or is it that animal? Oh wait... No questions asked, right?" It made her laugh wryly. "I'll go to my room like a good little girl, Caleb. That's how it's gonna be, right?" She took a deep breath as she spoke, wishing she could be sober.

Caleb grit his teeth, and bit back a whole lot of things he could have said. Instead, he exhaled slowly, calming himself. "Can you get back to your room, and tell me when you're there? I'll stay on the line til you are." He also had to pause. "Are you drunk?"

"No," she mumbled, closing the door and stepping back, rolling her eyes at herself. "Yes. By accident. It was stupid." She caught hold of the railing as she made her way back up the stairs and it felt like her body was falling asleep before she was. Not a pleasant feeling that and she found herself clinging to the railing more than she should have. Why anyone did this to themselves on purpose was completely escaping her at the moment. "I'm never, ever drinking again," she sighed and at least for that time being she really meant it. "I'm half way up the stairs and so far there are no gangs and no animals blocking my way."

"How do you get drunk by acci--" Caleb started, but broke off. How terribly not important in the face of werewolves running around eviscerating people. "Nevermind. Good. Don't drink anymore. Excellent plan." he told her instead. "And good, just...keep going, okay?"

"Okay, lots of stupid and annoying and loud people," Rose said as she walked back into the hall. "I think I'm safe from here on. At least from whatever it is I'm not allowed to ask about. Keys, keys, keys..." She mumbled as she dug in her backpack for the key to her room, fumbling with the lock. It was too loud out there and she knew it wouldn't be a whole lot better in her room, somewhat wishing someone would just pick her up and let her sleep anywhere else. Just not Caleb, everything was so terse between them.

"Well, I'll stay on the line til you're inside with a locked door between you and the rest of the world." he said. "...and drink water. It'll help you not to feel so sick tomorrow. Try and eat something like bread or whatever before you sleep, and make sure you drink as much water as you can." he added absently, not really thinking about it.

That advice put a tiny smile on her face and oddly enough made her want to start crying again. Despite all he was always looking out for her and it made her feel guilty for feeling grumpy with him. "Lots of water," she repeated with a nod. "And no painkillers or anything, just bread and water and fresh air. Is it safe to keep the window open?" She asked as she finally managed to get the door open and slipped inside, locking it behind her. It might be a stupid question since she was up on the second floor but who knew.

Caleb thought about it for a second. "You can keep it open a little." he told her. "Should be okay. Don't fall asleep with it open though, it's cold, you'll freeze if you crash out, and leave it that way." Which he felt the need to tell her since she was drunk. Right. Whatever. "...you're good now? Inside, staying there..."

"I'm so far from good," she mumbled as she sank down against the door, leaning her head back against it. "But I'm safe, I guess, and not going anywhere unless you physically come over here and drag me out. So yeah, you don't have to worry about me." She frowned in thought, letting herself practically leak down until her shoulder was pressed against the wall next to her. "What about you? Where are you? Are you safe?"

"Yeah, I'm home." Caleb told her, letting himself relax then, and exhaling as he did so. "So...I'm safe. Call me tomorrow or something, alright? So I know that you're safe then too?" he asked.

For a moment she just wanted to ask him to come get her, or at least tell him all about how wrong everything was tonight and how he hadn't been wrong and she saw that now, that everything had gone to hell and she didn't know what to do. Instead she just sighed quietly again, closing her eyes. "I'll call you tomorrow. We'll both be safe then."

He didn't quite know what she meant there, but figured that it was a drunk-statement and she probably meant they'd be safe until then. So, he didn't ask for clarification. "Goodnight, Rose." he said, before he hung up, feeling at least better knowing Leija and Rose were both safe. Okay. He didn't have to go out and find anyone in the middle of a werewolf petting zoo. Turning towards the living room again, he went out to see how Nic was doing.

*~*~*

Nic had always thought that it was a movie gimmick, the way things on TV or the radio always overlapped with what the people near them were dealing with. But there she was on the couch, grimacing as she flipped channels away from 'Teen Wolf', and landing on the video for 'Hungry Like the Wolf'. "Oh come on," she groaned, changing it again and sighing; even the news was no good, not with Paul Wolfowitz staring at her from the TV. "Piece of crap," she muttered, snapping the TV off as Caleb returned and smiling hopefully at him. "I'm guessing you actually got ahold of people?" she asked, stretching on the sofa. Tired or not, Nic wasn't planning on sleeping tonight. It could wait until daylight.

"yeah. So, I don't actually have to go out and attempt to save anyone. So, I'll be here." Caleb told her, walking over towards the couch and her. "The television not cooperating with you?" he asked, not really thinking he had the mind to handle television right now anyhow. He'd be far too distracted to actually pay attention properly.

"Yeah, it's a billion channels of crap to make you dumber," she sighed, smirking a little and bunching her legs in towards her body, then patting the open space. "C'mon, sit," she insisted, tossing the remote aside, "I think you're finally entitled to a little relaxation." And it was good to see less of the strain in his eyes, to know that the people he'd been calling were safe somewhere.

Caleb sat, dropping down where she indicated. "Not sure I'll be able to relax." he told her honestly, since relaxing was something that required being able to quit thinking in circles, and he didn't do that very well. She usually had a pretty good impact on that mentality, though. So he supposed there was a shot of some description. "You were supposed to." he pointed out.

"Well, I have," she assured him, sighing and nudging Caleb with a bare foot. "As much as I'm going to, anyway. It's not like I'll be able to drift off to sleep? But I'm not... y'know, panicking and wanting to cry in your bathroom any more either. So that's a plus." Really, Nic was trying to look ahead, to use the relative calm of the moment to figure out what she'd say to her mother when she got home. But now? She was also making room for Caleb in her head, wishing she could actually do something to help him shed the strain of feeling so damned responsible for people.

He eyed her, considering. He had something go through his mind, but he wasn't sure he could suggest it, attempt to just get it to happen, or if it was a bad idea and he should leave it alone. In the end he moved over, sitting with his back against the arm of the couch, turned towards her. He kept his eyes on her, then waved her over. "C'mere. Lie down." he said. Basically, he was offering himself for pillow services. And even if neither of them actually relaxed, rest could happen.

Nic fixed her usual skeptical glare on him, daggers from her eyes that hinted at a loaded comment waiting on her lips. It never came though, she just stared at him for a moment and finally curled a smile, scooting around in her spot on the couch and bracing herself with one arm gripping the back of it. Nic reached back to tug her hair free from the bobby pins, fixing a cynical grin on Caleb as she eased back, mirth plain in her eyes. "I'm doing this so neither of us ends up poking each other," she teased as her hair fell free and draped back from her cheeks, pooling and settling on Caleb's leg as she settled in. Weird? Definitely. Comfortable? Not yet, but Nic was getting there.

He flashed a brief grin at her. Short lived, but definitely present for a moment. "'Course you are." he told her, sounding amused. Personally he just liked her hair down. He wasn't sure why exactly, but he did. There was something about it when it was down that was just...nice. Reaching out, he started to thread his fingers through her hair, not at all sure he was going to be able to get away with that shit, but he wasn't really one for not trying on principal. It wasn't like she hadn't ever clocked him before, if he was doing something she didn't like. ...or did like, for that matter.

She definitely flinched a little at the start of it all, eyes twitching as Caleb's hands hovered near to her cheeks and slipped into her hair. Nic's expression was one of obvious surprise and awkwardness, this being a moment she didn't find herself in too often. Her head turned a touch away from Caleb as she smiled faintly, helplessly at the gentle passage of his fingers, and Nic had a moment of enjoyment before her cynic leapt to her defense. Reaching up, she smacked him lightly on the arm, not quite telling him to stop as she laughed a little. "It's all sweat-caked up there, sicko," she chided, "Gonna need to wash your hands twice whenever you get some sense and decide to stop."

He looked down at her and rolled his eyes. "You're talking to the guy who deliberately cuts himself open to do magic and likes being in a life or death fight, Nic." he pointed out. "A little sweat? Really not on my list of things that'll bother me." He'd noted, however, that she hadn't said stop in so many words. So, he figured he'd get that answered. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked, not actually going so far as to do that while he waited for her answer. If she said yes, he'd stop then.

She recognized the question for what it was and how it could apply to more than just the moment at hand. Nic sighed theatrically, stretching her arms out behind her so one bordered Caleb's waist. "Hasn't mattered if I wanted you to yet," she teased more directly, her cheeks coloring a little with that. They both had good reasons for one or the other of them to stop in the past, plenty of rationale to pull back with. She wasn't being fair of accusing him otherwise, but if he could be a bastard with those soft strokes of fingertips? She could twist the proverbial knife right back at him.

"Yeah, well, I haven't bothered to ask til now." Caleb said. Since really, he hadn't. They'd discussed matters, sure, and they'd both kind of just acknowledged then moved forward, and ignored. Or, that's what he thought anyways. Only the ignoring thing he wasn't necessarily that good at. Or, more accurately, he was pretty damn bad at. "So...here's your official chance." he said, keeping his eyes down on hers. "Tell me to stop, and I will." He hadn't meant for his voice to get a little quieter then, but it did.

Nic's lower lip caught in her teeth for a moment as she matched his gaze, wishing she was like the psychics she'd read about in her book. Knowing Caleb's thoughts? Yeah, that'd help right now. If nothing else, it'd make her more confident about maintaining some seperation between her thoughts and her feelings. But without those abilities? Nic had to play it by instinct. She reached around, loosely snagging Caleb's wrist in her fingers and holding it still for a moment, relishing a light touch that lingered near her temple. "When I want you to, I will," she murmured at last, brushing her hand down his forearm as she released.

He smiled at that. It was faint, but there, and he got back to playing with her hair. He didn't say anything, because he was pretty sure if he opened up his mouth at this point, that he'd ruin something. He wasn't even sure what he could ruin, just that he defintiely could manage it. He was pretty good at crashing and burning things, after all, and he didn't want to do that with Nic.
Even if what they had remained undefined, and they kept that distance in place that they both seemed to want to hide behind, regardless of the fact that they kept being drawn in...he didn't want to destroy things, or even risk destroying them. For someone as inherently destructive as he could be...it was something that required real effort.

As soothing as the easy rhythm of Caleb's hands was, Nic still didn't think she'd manage to sleep. She could unwind though, this seemed like it was therapeutic for both of them, despite everything unsaid about it. Every time they stepped back, she got perspective again: whatever it was holding Caleb back? If Nic ever pushed too hard for it, or for him, she'd shatter any chance at it being something worth making her feel as nervous as she tended to. She just had to keep remembering that, it'd make the frustration easier to handle. "Some day? I'm gonna paint you," she murmured, "You'll be out for a walk and stop and say 'Holy shit that's me spraypainted on the side of the police department."

There was a small exhale of a laugh at that. "Yeah?" he asked. "Got it in mind already, or you going to wing it?" he asked. He thought of the painting of her again. Her reaction to it. How it wasn't at all what he would have expected, and...yeah. He still needed to finish it. But he didn't know if he'd be able to. Not with him having gotten the view of her as she reacted to it. It might change, if he touched it again, altered anything. And you're supersticious since when, Lockwood? he asked himself, but that didn't change the impulse. Knowing something was stupid had never actually stayed him from any action, thought or intention in his life.

"Obviously I'll have to wing it," she answered, nose wrinkling with a smirk, "My shit doesn't look any better if I plan it. Besides, I'll have a model handy, since I get the impression that I'm not allowed out after dark without you knowing." It was mostly a tease, and a fact she didn't really mind either. Violence and hormones aside? They got along great together. "Of course, if you're busy? It'll get done anyway, and actually be a surprise. But it'll probably look even worse." No matter how good it was? It wouldn't compare to what she'd seen tonight; either of his art or himself as a subject.

"People don't usually record me in one way or another." Caleb admitted. He didn't get his picture taken, he didn't think there were any of him as a kid because that woul dhave required his parents actually wanting to remember what he looked like as a kid. The most recent photograph taken of him was he and rose in the photobooth. And that was it. "Sure you want to break the trend? Not sure I deserve to be immortalized." he told her. Then paused. "And no, I don't really want you out after dark alone."

She sighed, sticking her tongue out at Caleb and reaching up to smack his arm again. "Seriously? I can get away with the self-deprecation, Lockwood. You? Not so much." Though, with everything he'd told her about his past, recent and otherwise, she could see where the instinct came from. "Since I know you like compliments about as much as me, I'll just say this; a werewolf could've eaten me tonight, and it didn't because of you. So yes, you deserve to be immortalized, just because you gave me the chance to keep pissing people off."

Wincing, Caleb looked down at her and didn't say anything for a moment. "I didn't do anything." he said. "I definitely didn't stop a werewolf from eating you. Don't--" put me in that light. God he hated that idea. Hated how it sounded, hated the implications, hated the idea that she thought it. It made him twitch, and twitch hard.

She frowned at the way he flinched, realizing too late how that must've sounded to Caleb's anti-ego. "Hey, none of that," Nic was quick to chide, tugging on Caleb's sleeve. "You got me moving, put me in line to bail your ass out. That's all. That's you being someone who knows this shit, sharing a bit of it with me. Okay?" She sighed, knowing it wasn't okay, then grabbed onto Caleb's sleeve and sat up a bit. Nic propped an elbow on the arm of the couch to keep herself upright. "I said 'could've', Caleb. Not 'definitely would've', not 'I was half-digested werewolf shit until you swooped in'. Do you believe me when I say it's not like that?" she asked intently, having some idea of just how much his hero image bothered him.

He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded, but said nothing. He still didn't like it, and really just...not mentioning anything like it at all would be good. It went very strongly against most everything in his head, and he couldn't help but overreact to even the implications. But he felt slightly better for her clarifications, and relaxed slightly. The back of his mind kicked up the little voice that said if he really wanted to crash down anything even remotely resembling a heroic image, all he had to do was tell her the truth about himself. That would crush it nicely. But it would everything else, too. Or, it should.

"Gotta speak up or I might think you're floored by me," Nic joked weakly, hoping to ditch some of the tension he still wore. In truth, tonight had given her some of that perspective for Caleb, but not at all how he would think. Either way, she couldn't say as much without him taking it wrong, so it was best to avoid it entirely. "I'm not looking to make you something you're not," she added, leaning up a little more like she might've wanted to kiss his cheek, but releasing before she got there. nic dropped back down with a small laugh, stretching again. "You're comfortable in a lot of good ways, y'know. No need for me to fuck that up."

He'd thought for a second that she was actually going to do something, and then she didn't, and was back down. He drew in a breath, and let it out slowly, not making a big show of it. "You just keep that in mind." he told her. "If you didn't have me around, you'd lack whatever ways you've decided I'm comfortable. So...be good to yourself. Keep me around."

She smirked up at him, stretching an arm up to mess with his short hair for a moment. "Can do. It's not like I can lay in my own lap, right? Plus, with the snow? I can't even skate enough to wipe out, so that removes me kicking my own ass. I hope you're ready to fill in for a few things," she warned, winking his way. Nic thought for a moment that this talk and situation would be just as comfortable if they were curled together on the couch. But hey, awkwardness, things to avoid. She sighed quietly with the thought, simultaneously wanting the sun to rise slower and faster.

"I can fill in for a few things, but if you're looking to kick your own ass or have someone else do it, you'll have to find someone else. You're always kicking the shit out of me, not the other way around. So..." he trailed off, smirking back at her. He almost asked her what she had in mind. What uses she might come up with for him, but didn't know right now if he wanted the answer there. If he could manage the flirting that might happen, or if he'd be disappointed if she didn't put it in there. So, in the end, he left his statement as-is.

"Think more where you're substituting your ass for mine in the kicking equation," Nic corrected, smirking right back at Caleb, "You're already a pretty natural fit for the job, I just figured you might want it full time." Which was just a teasing way of saying yes, she'd keep him. But also an easier one that being so direct. Because she could've started up the veiled comments and flirting again, but with her current position and how close they'd already come a few times tonight? Nic didn't think she could pull back again if she started to get too close to him.

He quirked a half smile down at her then shook his head, looking amused, at any rate. "Right then." he said, giving it to her. He was playing with her hair again then, just sort of drifting his fingers through, trying to figure out what if anything he wanted to say, or do. He knew he had shit to do tomorrow now. Calling Dean was on the list. Other than that...who knew. Checking in on people, he supposed. For now, though, he was just keeping his eyes down on Nic. Watching how the shadows and light played off of her skin. There were definitely worse things he could be doing.

And as for Nic, the opposing angle was just as interesting to watch Caleb from. She figured that there had to be some soothing repetition to the way he toyed with her hair, it was the most likely reason for the subtle change in his eyes. The same humor she liked was there, but some of the strain was definitely gone. She remembered once before, telling him how he always looked burdened, and how when he smiled that burden lifted a little. Now, he looked loaded down again, but ready to keep shouldering whatever strain came his way. Maybe she helped. "I've got five bucks that says you're gonna fall asleep just like that," she said with a crooked grin, rolling her neck and pressing her head into his touch for a moment, "And I'm finally gonna be polite for once and just lay here, then have to dodge drool bombs."

"I don't sleep very well." Caleb said. "Not even at the best of times, I'm definitely not falling asleep sitting up. So while I appreciate your sacrifice, or willingness to sacrifice...it's not going to happen. Not til after dawn at the very least." he informed her. "You should probably try to get some rest though. Something tells me you're going to have a busy day tomorrow." What with dealing with her mom. Possible research, general dealing...

"I'll have plenty of time for that later," Nic insisted, "I figure I'll wait up for my mom whenever I get home, probably sleep once we talk a little." Which probably meant she wouldn't be as coherent? But her mom would be fresh from the shock of the hospital, and maybe more willing to hear the truth. If Nic hadn't seen the werewolf herself, she'd be willing to try and deny it, so she knew her mother would definitely try to explain away what had happened. "Besides, I totally want a good shower before I crash, and I'm a stickler for my towel. Yours would probably feel all wrong." And as before, the idea of stripping down here? Weird. "So you're just stuck keeping me company."

Caleb could think of worse fates. A lot worse. So really, in the grand scheme of things, staying where he was, with Nic there...yeah. That wasn't in any way bad. His main trouble was that he didn't know what to do from where he was at mentally. She didnt' seem to want to start getting into deep discussions about werewolves, and really the less he had to do with that right now the better. He still didn't want her thinking she'd killed someone. Or, helped, considering he'd told her that he finished it off. And beyond that? Well...he didn't know how well he would do with absent, non-weighted conversation. Generally he wasn't that good at it. Making friends and influencing people wasn't his forte.

He was right on a few of his thoughts. Nic wasn't really ready to get into depth on the supernatural, not so soon after her first and nearly last encounter with it. And she also wasn't one to indulge in casual chatter. She could talk about music or movies for hours, but tonight would've been forcing it, and she didn't think Caleb was any more up for that than she was at the moment. So Nic did something she rarely liked to be on the receiving end of; she opted for honesty. "What are you thinking?" she murmured, quelling the urge to reach up and touch his brow with the question.

He didnt' answer her straight away, instead trying to line his thoughts up into something coherent he could tell her. In the end, he never quite managed that, and just had to start speaking. "Hard to say." he admitted. "I'm a little all over the place right now. Sort of half thinking that I can think of a lot worse fates than keeping you company til dawn. Thinking about shit I'll have to get done tomorrow, wondering how you're going to deal with your mom. If she'll believe anything. What happens next month. Thinking I have to call my friend Dean, since he's not here right now, but would probably want to know what the hell was going on. Wondering where my brothers are. Wondering if I keep talking if I'm just going to fuck things up, because I'm pretty good at that." he told her. "What's on your mind?"

And she knew she shouldn't have asked, because unsurprisingly? He'd asked her in kind. "We're parallel on the topic of my mom," she started, deciding that was easiest, "I don't know if I can convince her, but I need to before next month. I'm thinking..." Nic frowned for a moment, not wanting to get all squishy or phrase things so Caleb might thing she was using the H word indirectly. "I'm comfortable? Not just from laying down, just... here. You. And I'm wondering why you think you'll fuck up so easily. If I remember right? I'm the one whose mouth was spewing retardedness all over the place tonight, not you."

"My track record." Caleb told her, not having to think on that one. "I tend to fuck everything up regardless. It's just what happens with me. I start out alright sometimes--and that's kind of iffy there--and I manage to crash and burn just about everything. I don't know if I do it on accident, or if there's some internal drive towards destruction. My life would probably be easier if at least I knew that, but I don't. So...that's why. It's what I do. I mean, you don't think that I've been afflicted with crazy women in my life by accident, do you? I'm pretty sure a lot of that can be contributed completely to me, and being how I am."

"And I think it might not be," Nic argued calmly, smiling thoughtfully. She was a good listener, luckily, or she'd just be arguing from a foundation of being sweet on the guy. "Did I miss, like, a long list of girls? Because here's what I know about. Rose, who has her own reasons for being shook up. Leija, who I don't know enough about? So maybe, maybe that one's you. And Jaime? Who you said yourself, Chrissy Chapman was the one who broke that girl." She wanted to sit up to argue it more intensely, but reclining like this would force her to keep herself calm, lest she get worked up and whack Caleb's balls with the back of her head. "So from down here?" she summarized with a hint of tooth in her smile, "You can claim one of those three as completely your fault, and only because I don't know enough about it. The rest... I think you just decide not to quit on them, issues or no."

"Yeah, but maybe I should." he said. "I don't think I really do anyone any favors by sticking around. And I know I create more issues. Like with Leija. She never used to be like she is now. Something changed, and I'm pretty sure it all happened when there was the admission of feelings. It was the day before I got out of the psych ward. Everything went pretty directly to hell after that. It never managed to right itself out again. But maybe I was meant to behave differently than I did, and maybe if I was even remotely normal, I would have. With Rose...I'm fairly positive that absolutely nothing I have done with that girl has been right. I should have minded my own business and not got into hers. Now she's a wreck, and I really only ever exacerbate that." He paused for a moment. "Look, I'm not just...trying to be down on myself or whatever, I just know I tend to fuck everything over, without even trying to. It's just me, in general. I don't especially want to do that with you."

"I know," she was quick to assure him, reaching back by her head to squeeze Caleb's hand, "And I don't want that to happen either? But... don't worry about me, okay? I'm keeping a lookout on things just as much as you are, I've got my own issues to worry about. But don't go pulling back because you think you're going to fuck me up." Really, she needed the trust she had with Caleb now; so far as Nic knew, there was no one else she could turn to with everything. "I'm already fucked up, remember? We'll both just keep toeing the line, I guess. Keep each other from screwing up. Like I said, call me on my shit. I'll call you on yours, and I'll keep on asking these annoying little questions."

It doesn't work like that. Caleb thought, but didn't say. It was a pretty defeatist thing to say in the first place, so he just skipped it. "I'm going to worry anyways." he told her. "And I keep coming back to the fact that...you know there are things I can't tell you." he said. Since really, everything drifted back towards that. Hell most of what was messed up about him could directly be traced back to it. "I have to wonder how long you'll put up with not knowing. And if I did tell you, how long it would be before you were as far away from me as possible." Or, trying to kill him. There was that thrown in there.

Everthing really did come back to that, to his secrets. She wanted to say there were things she'd never know about herself too, but the difference was that Caleb simply chose not to share his. She had no choice with hers. "I think about it when I think about you. Magic, vampires, werewolves, suicide, psych wards? What could be so much worse that you couldn't say it?" she wondered, still keeping a loose grip on his hand. "I can't say I wouldn't care, that it'd still be you. Because I don't know, do I? But I can keep asking, just... letting you know that I'm here if you want to tell me. I can promise I'll listen, weigh it against what I've seen leading up to it, if it ever happens. I think that's the most I can really promise, even if I want to say more. I know you don't want to scare me off, but eventually you just might have to let me see how strong I am."

Caleb looked down at her, eyes and expression unreadable. He reached out with his free hand towards her cheek, just stopping himself before he touched it, not going through with the motion. "That's the kicker though, isn't it, Nic?" he asked. "What could be so much worse?" he asked. "You should probably think about that question a little harder. It's a valid one." he continued, voice light. "With everything I've already told you...that I've already trusted you with..." You fill in the blank, Nic. You come to the conclusion that whatever it is I'm holding back, it's pretty off the charts major. "It isn't about how strong you are."

"Says you," Nic retorted with a little more iron in her voice, squeezing his hand. "Caleb, you look so... so fucking tired. You're not even out of school, and I think if you could just lay down and sleep, dream of drawing or of whatever little handful of memories you think are good, you would. But you can't, because you just won't quit on people. Whatever self-loathing you have? You just won't let go." She sighed quietly, eyes darting to one side as his hand came close and withdrew. "Remember the myths? Arachne and shit? Well... you're Atlas, feeling like you've got to hold up not just your whole world, but everyone else's that you know. And yours is... it's heavy enough, I think. But if the people out there, Rose and everyone, if you have to keep helping them? You need to let someone else shoulder just a little bit of your world. And maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like you've shown me part of it... as for the rest? God damn right it's about how strong I am. Either strong enough to help, even for a little while, or so weak that I'll just end up climbing on your pile. There's no middle ground."

"I've never been any good at letting go." Caleb said, which was the truth. Hell, if Jamie called tomorrow and needed him for something, he knew he'd be there regardless of what had happened between them. It was just how he worked. Or, didn't work, depending on one's point of view. "You're forgetting the third option here." he said. "You find out, and I never see you again." Which he was aware was a possibility. And... "That'd probably be the best option for you."

She scowled, not thinking that was really an option but knowing she couldn't say as much with his secret still hidden. "But if that happened, you're saying you wouldn't still worry? Still check up on me or come if I needed help? Because all that means is I'm still on top of the pile, but now I can't even see you at the bottom, trying to hold it all up." And as much as she knew she should wait before really thinking on it, her mind was wandering. What could be so much worse? "When you decide I get to know, we'll deal with what comes after, okay? Until then, just... don't think about my options. Don't start saying goodbye to me before I say it first, or duck my calls because you want to make it easier. Just be the guy I'm cool with, you're good at that."

"I'd still worry. I'd still check up on you. You just wouldn't see me if I did." he told her. Which was possibly openly admitting to stalking, which wasn't good, but it was truth. "And you're forgetting the bit that if you did disown me, if you had problems that you needed help with, I might be a last resort, if that." he added. "And I'm not going to push you away before then, I'm just..." he sighed, and dragged his fingers through his hair. "Very, very aware."

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe the frustration of running around this circular argument, but Nic just couldn't stand the claims he was making. That she'd disown him, avoid him, he'd have to shadow her to see her, she'd only call if all else failed. She said she couldn't promise him much without the full truth, but she wanted to. Instead of doing that, though, Nic reached out with both hands as Caleb busied his fingers in his hair. She grabbed him by the shirt collar, tugging him down and scooting to one side to align their eyes at a close proximity. "You're not the only one who's aware of it all," she whispered in a rush, eyes burning up at his, "But if you see me differently than I do? Maybe I see more than you do with a mirror too."

He ticked his eyes between hers, caught off guard by the sudden switch there, though he probably shouldn't have been. It wasn't like Nic was the type to not abruptly make things physical of some description or other. "You still don't have the biggest piece, Nic. And trust me, it changes the entire picture." he told her, voice quiet. And he was really, very hard pressed not to pull her in the rest of the way. Shift them both around, do something that wasn't continuing to discuss something there wasn't a conclusion for. Because he wasn't telling her right now, if he ever decided to. So there wasn't 'and then it was all better'. No closure. The only reason he didn't give into the urge was he knew full well that it wouldn't do anything but complicate everything all the more.

Her brow knotted with obvious frustration, both at his claims and at how close she was. She already knew she was going to let go, that she wouldn't force this so long as he wasn't prepared, but it didn't make slowly letting go of Caleb's shirt any easier. "Until I get that last piece? I'm going to go off of what I see, alright? You can't just discount it if it's all I know, Caleb. Because there's still flaws there, still crazy shit that spooks me... but I'm still here. And I already know you're going to say I won't be once I know the rest?" She managed a thin smirk up at him, shaking her head. "Unless you're one of those psychics I read about, you don't know that."

No, what I know is you're an intelligent girl. And that'll work against me eventually. And it should, really. So I can't complain. he thought. "I already said I'm not going to push you away right now." he said, not really addressing what she said, but reiterating. "So for right now, things are in a holding pattern." In a few different ways, really. One being the fact that they'd both fessed up to attraction, but hadn't done anything with it. Yet. He still maintained he shouldn't at all, but that was easier to say than to do.

"I can handle a holding pattern," Nic told him with a small huff of frustration, shaking her head at herself. "I know you said it? Just... this is all a lot, you know? What's out there and what's in here," she went on, briefly gesturing from the window to the two of them, "It's not something I really do? Like, ever. So I'm probably gonna repeat myself, then contradict myself. Bear with me, 'kay?" And to Nic, that was asking a lot of him. Anti-feminine or not, she was still a seventeen year old, and was all too aware of how crazy anyone could be at that point. Even before factoring in the werewolves and magic.

He gave a light little half smile. "Patience I have." He had a limited amount, but he usually had a pretty big well of it for certain people, and Nic was one of them. He wanted to have patience with her. "So, you're in the clear there. And I never expected anyone in the world to be perfectly on the level. I haven't met a single person who isn't fucked up at least in some ways, and who doesn't contradict themselves sometimes." he knew he sure as hell did.

She smiled back at him, stretching languidly and adjusting her head to let it rest more on one leg. "Good to hear," Nic told him, stifling a slight yawn, "Or... the patience part is. I already knew we were all fucked in some sense." Because that was just the way of things. Everyone, even Nate or Lily, as well-composed as they seemed, had to have secrets or damage or scars somewhere. "And if both of those factors weren't there? Hell, I'm gonna get bored real fast without you around, Lockwood," she warned. Really, it was nice to have a reason for her minor acts of havoc, even if the reason was as small as making him laugh.

He laughed a touch. "Good to know you only like me for my damage." he said. Which after he said it, he wished he hadn't, because he often thought that about Leija. That she'd only really wanted to be with him because of his damage, and how it fit in with hers. Yeah that just wasn't a good thought, and he pushed it back again. "I wouldn't want to bore you." he added, going back to playing with her hair, since he kind of liked doing that.

It was good that Nic had just readjusted, since that comment would've earned Caleb a head smacked down into his balls. As it was, she glared at him for a moment, lips pursed into a scowl. "As if," Nic chided, flicking Caleb in gut as he started finger-combing her hair again, "i just think that if you were sane? You wouldn't be able to stand me." And that was a bit of truth, from her perspective at least. Caleb's damage was tangential to the reasons she liked him, but she really thought that without it? He wouldn't have taken the time with her. "It's definitely not boring, wiseass. A little freaky, yes. But not enough to make me bail, and I'm not some doom-cookie who has to have it."

He snagged her hand when she poked him, and started bringing it up to his lips, but in the end he decided not to, and just...kept hold of it. "So you're saying you're a well adjusted girl who likes me for my damage, possibly some of my patience, and at least I'm going to be entertaining?" he teased, at least this time very very clearly teasing. "Okay." he told her. "I can live with that."

"What conversation are you following?" Nic asked, her eyebrows raised in apparent amusement. Really, it was apprehension as he raised her hand towards his mouth and stopped. "Seriously, do you live in a world where we eat through our asses, Caleb? Because that's the only possible one where I'm well adjusted," she explained with a smirk, squeezing his hand and tugging it down like he'd done with hers. Unlike Caleb, she didn't stop. She bit. She bit the edge of a finger, to be specific, ignoring her nerves as she did and releasing quickly. They were goofing off, right? That was one of the things friends did when goofing off, right? Right?

Caleb laughed, and tugged at his hand--but not actually hard enough to get it back. "Hey!" he said. "Here I am, being all kinds of nice to you, and I get bit for it?!" he asked. Could you possibly manage that again, only someplace else? Wow was he ever not saying that. But he did say something else he probably shouldn't have, and if he had thought about five seconds longer, he probably wouldn't have gone through with it. "Tease." he accused.

"I've had my shots, sissy!" Nic blurted as her cheeks burned, releasing Caleb's hand quickly. "God, call animal control on me if you're gonna be like that. But you'll need to put your hair in pigtails so the look matches up to the call they get from a little girl." Yeah, when she hit unfamiliar territory like that? Nic turned the vitriol onto overdrive. And what she'd just done? That was definitely new ground. "Tease?" she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest, "You, homo, are a big bag of mixed signals. Either it's a bad bite that you can bitch about, or I'm a tease and you liked it."

Looking down at her for a long moment, Caleb smirked. He didn't say anything for a long few moments, just giving her that amused, almost dark kind of look. "Which do you think it is?" he asked, not actually going for blatantly answering the question. And he was aware he should back them off of this conversation, because it was edging into territory that they shouldn't be. But she'd started it. She was the one who bit him...that was his story and he was sticking to it.

Okay, she officially Couldn't Do This. Nic knew that if she stayed put, she'd get egged on by that compelling look he had in his eyes. She'd grab his shirt again, bite his neck and see if that was a 'tease'. Nic sat up with a breath, leaning forward to put her back to Caleb as she huffed in frustration. "I think you wouldn't complain if I did it again," she said without looking over, reaching up to gather her hair in both hands and draw it away from her neck. "And I might just... christ, I don't know." Not stop, she thought, holding her hair and reaching down to find her hair pins.

He shouldn't have the urge to draw her back and kiss the back of her neck where she exposed it. Not when they were supposedly ignoring things. And that was the kicker, wasn't it. That 'supposedly' thing. He wanted to know where her sentence ended. Might just....what? But he didn't ask. Because filtering through the rest of his mind was the clear idea that she was now uncomfortable, and she'd by gesture and body language just said Stop. So he got up and walked a few paces away, hands shoved into his pockets. "You can lay back down...I'll just...be elsewhere." he told her.

"Oh bullshit," she hissed as he hopped up, and Nic's head twisted around to aim Caleb's way. "You can't just... seriously?" Nic hopped up, letting her hair fall free as the thought of pinning it back disappeared. "Why the fuck are we doing this, Caleb?" Nic asked, her tone demanding an answer. "I like you, yeah? You have fucking brain damage and decide you like hanging out with me, whatever. But I don't like scaring you off, god dammit!" she snapped, wishing she had something to throw at him. "I... if I back off? If I sit up? You said there was shit I didn't know, and I want to know before..." She cut herself off again, scowling over how irrational and prone to outbursts she was around him. She had to come off like a psycho. "Whatever, I'm sorry, okay? just forget it. You can go. I'll just pace a rut into your floor."

The outburst actually surprised him a little, though not necessarily that she did it, more the content thereof. So he stood there and watched her, letting her have her say, and a few moments longer so he was sure she was finished before he even attempted to respond. "You were okay a minute ago, then you were getting up, so I figured I'd save you the trip. I don't especially like making people uncomfortable, especially people like you. I thought I'd stop making you uncomfortable, before it got really awkward. I didn't mean to...whatever it was I just did. I'm kind of unclear. How about you run that rant at me again, but edit it down to what you really mean, and I need to hear to understand it." he said, and while the words came out not in the best phrasing, his tone wasn't biting.

She took a deep breath, pushing both hands through her hair and grimacing a little at the feel of a nail catching. He'd made it pretty clear what she needed to say, but Nic wasn't entirely sure she could just say it all. Damn him and his requests for honesty. "Okay... you weren't making me uncomfortable, first off," she explained, "I was. You didn't do anything, alright? I just wanted.. hell. Sometimes I want to bite you. Touch you. I settle for hitting you." Nic smirked at that, reaching to dig her lighter out and anxiously spark it, just for something to fidget with. "You said there was a piece of things I hadn't seen, and I want to. Before I give into anything else I'm thinking? I want you to be able to say whatever it is you can't. So I just... make myself pull back. It's not you, it's never been your fault."

There was a lot there for him to take in, and one thing that shone more brightly than the others. Which was what she said about The Big Secret Of Doom. That she wanted to know it before anything happened between them, which...was very intelligent, admirable, and sucked at the same time. He got it, he really did. He'd rather she know before anything happened with them because if she didn't, and they hooked up, and she found out later, that would just be a fallout and a half to have to deal with, and at least if things crashed and burned before then he wouldn't have to deal with the loss of a girlfriend along with everything else. It would be better for her as well, so she didn't use it against herself. He knew she had the tendency to in the first place, but handing her a reason to hate herself? Um no. Not at all. He couldn't justify it in any manner, and didn't want her waking up one morning thinking about the things she'd done(since in his mind, if they hooked up, there would in fact be Things Done) with someone with demonic blood. It was somethign else she could blow off if she was just attracted. Because she hadn't known. But still. He sighed and leaned back against the opposite wall, eyes on her. "Well, maybe you shouldn't be the only one backing off. I should probably help in that capacity, shouldn't I?" he asked, voice light.

"You already do," she pointed out, shoulders shrugging. "Back in the orphanage? I know you did, because I sure as shit wasn't going to." That backing off had actually meant a lot to Nic; it had been a sign that he was interested in more than a cheap make-out or worming his way into her pants. "Lately, I just want to. But I can't, and it sucks. And then I freak out like this, which is what? My fourth of the night?" she asked, giving him a wan smile. Sleep would level her headspace out, hopefully, but it still wasn't anywhere near. "It's like... I don't want to fuck things up with you. But I don't know how not to without just bailing, which is the same result as if I do mess shit up." I want to kiss you hard enough to bruise you. I want to add a scar. And that was the problem, wasn't it? She couldn't, not without ruining a friendship she'd come to rely on.

"I haven't exactly been keeping count." Caleb said, which was the truth. He knew she'd freaked out a couple times, but--werewolves. So...not exactly something that was crazy or strange. Emotions were running high. He sighed, and tugged his fingers through his hair, looking away for a moment, then back to her. "Yeah, it does suck." he agreed, because at least he could give her that. The unhelpful information that she was not alone on things. By any stretch of the imagination, really. "I don't want to fuck things up with you either. Ever, if I can help it. Isn't this all kind of why we decided to back off in the first place? But I don't really know what to do about it. How to..." he made a vague gesture. "Stop things." Because they were quite clearly there. Thoughts, instincts, urges. They didn't die down just because logic said it was stupid.

"Obviously I need to go lesbian," Nic muttered, smirking at herself, "But... yeah, that's why we decided. I just don't know if I can stay back forever, y'know?" Though maybe she'd have to, if this was how things were going to be. If she was just going to mire Caleb down with her erratic thoughts? She could do him a favor and stopping talking to him entirely. "But maybe I have to if I want you as a friend. Which means busting out the big book of venerial diseases my mom has at home just to scare me out of getting fresh." Nic wanted to move closer, but that idea went against everything they were talking about in the moment. "I don't know how to stop things either. I just know I don't want to drive you crazy, and I don't want to stop hanging out."

Now, in a different sort of situation, Caleb probably would have said something about her taking pictures of herself and her girlfriend, should that come to pass, but it wasn't something for their current circumstances, so he bit his tongue on the comment. He didn't know if he could stay back forever either, though knew he had one hell of a lot of willpower he could kill. He'd done so before, when he'd been pining for Leija as long as he had been, and she'd had a boyfriend. Though, she'd had a boyfriend. It was a ready, good excuse, and Nic didn't have that. No built in stop point that was an outside influence to respect. No, between them, it was mostly rationality and logic that palyed in against anything, and that could be a lot more easily swept aside in favor of everything else. Especially considering it wasn't one sided. "You don't drive me crazy. Or...not in a bad way." he told her. "I don't want to stop hanging out, either." he added. "Though, with that comment about diseases, I have to wonder if I should be insulted..." he put on the end there, a weak sort of joke, but hey, there.

Not in a bad way. That was something to consider, though by now Nic knew he had some bizarre attraction to her. "So... let's not stop hanging out?" she suggested, not sure it was a great idea but unwilling to consider otherwise. "Just, as much as I like it? No more using you as a pillow, because next time you might be a full-on mattress. Maybe I need to be less of a bitch, and you'll like me less?" Nic wondered aloud, resisting the urge to grab her smokes. "You can be insulted if you want, she just works with diseases and shit all day. That woman's prevention method is like a sledgehammer." And hey, she could joke with him. Maybe it was just a problem with no obvious answer, or no answer at all, and joking would at least take their minds off of it. "But hey, since I know I'm getting confined to my room after this? Maybe a few days'll make me less insane."

"I never suggested we stop hanging out. I know that this is...kind of bullshit and difficult but I don't want to not be around you." Caleb said. Which was selfish of him, he figured, but whatever. "And fine. Check. No more using me as a pillow." Even if he'd liked it too, and the graduation of the idea that she'd just put out there... Oh shut up. he told himself. "And a few days...right. But I thought we established that it's not all you?" he said. "So even if a few days has you realizing that anything to do with me in that capacity is the world's worst idea, it won't actually have impact on me." Since he knew himself, and when he set his sights on someone, regardless of the situation, he tended to obsess.

"Good," she was quick to say, managing a more genuine smile for Caleb, "I'd hate to get ungrounded and find out you've lost the urge to hang out with me. That'd earn you an ass-kicking." Nic was just hoping that some time to cool down would make her less prone to her impulsiveness around him. "Maybe some day we can do the pillow thing again; post-traumatic encounters with werewolves or something," Nic went on, moving back to the sofa to sit again. She patted the seat next to her, nodding for him to come back, then grabbing her hair pins and gathering her hair up again. "C'mon back? No weirdness, no biting, no insanity. Promise. We can watch TV until we're both retarded, I just... don't really want to sit around alone, okay?"

Internally, Caleb sighed. He didn't figure going back over there was the best plan ever, but...he wasn't going to deny her either. So he grabbed the remote as he headed over, and dropped down where she'd indicated, automatically turning the television on. He wouldn't concentrate on it, but it was a distraction to have. And they both probably needed it, so...whatever. Mindless television it was. He handed her the remote, too. "Pick whatever you want." he told her, considering no matter what was on screen, he wouldn't be watching.

Nic wasn't planning on watching too close either, but the background noise would definitely be appreciated. She grabbed the remote, starting to idly thumb through channels as she curled her legs beneath her. "So... if I'm a convict? Maybe we'll actually have to do something at school. Lunch or some shit." That'd be easier to maintain through, at least; Nic would be far too paranoid about ending up in the rumor mill to let herself be like this in the halls.

"In theory I'll be there and around. Findable." Caleb told her, though he was thinking that at school things would be a lot different as well. He just wasn't relaxed there. Ever. Plus, it was a lot of hours of wasted time according to him. He still half the time didn't even know why he bothered to go. He couldn't see the point in the grand scheme of things. "So...find me."

"I'll keep an eye out," she promised, smirking a little. It'd have to be before lunch, since Nic generally got the hell off of campus at the first possible chance. "You could actually drive me somewhere enjoyable, chauffeur," Nic teased, clicking channels again and letting the TV linger on an infomercial. Which was a good sign, those usually got more prominent as dawn got closer. "On foot I only get far enough to have a smoke without some whore of a teacher giving me hell."

"I can do that." Caleb said. Though wasn't the point to hang out someplace where they weren't going to be alone? Maybe not. Who knew. He wasn't complaining. "So...it's a plan. I'll remember to bring my car to school." Mostly he walked, considering how close he lived, but whatever. If she watned to be brougth somewhere, he could do that. ...he was in trouble. Shit.

Nic sighed, slapping her forehead and shaking her head at herself. "Yeah, the car I fucked up tonight. Go brain, go," she chided herself, waving a hand dismissively, "Scratch that whole idea until I actually have a chance to fix that shit. You can just be cold and miserable with me while I feed my addiction." Why did he like her again? Tossing the remote in his lap, Nic let her head hang back against the couch as she sighed. "God, why did I even suggest turning that thing on?" she asked as the infomercial ended and the news logo flooded across the screen.

"Technically it still ran." Caleb pointed out. Damn that car had seen enough shit. He glanced towards the screen, then focused on her again. "Distraction." he told her. "You wanted something to pay attention to that wasn't me." he informed her, smiling faintly. There was a light note of amusement in his tone.

"Got me there," she agreed, sighing and chuckling in spite of herself, "But here I am anyway, hardly even noticing it except for the fact that it's on." Because he was distracting; him, thoughts of his car, of what the unspoken detail might be... Nic could probably ride out a car crash without noticing right now. "I think I already said it?" Nic began, dropping her feet back to the floor, "But thanks again. For just listening and everything. I'm gonna go round up my stuff." She smiled genuinely, hoping he wouldn't think she needed the space as she hopped up to gather the clothes she'd changed out of before.

He sat up straighter, eyes following her. His eyes ticked to the window, where he could see it was lighter out there, but... "Why don't you just take my car?" he suggested. Since he still was paranoid, and it wasn't like he hadn't handed his car off to someone else before.

She stopped back by the hallway, glancing over a shoulder to Caleb with a line of surprise in her brow. "Take it?" she asked, not quite grasping that, "Weren't you just going to drop me off?" Was this his first attempt at some space for both of their sakes? Nic hadn't expected it so soon, and it showed. "I don't think I really can, Caleb. My mom would ask questions, I wouldn't get to drop it off again for a while... and it's yours."

It had been, but he went back on it immediately at her reaction. "Okay. I'll drop you off then." he told her. He didn't really think of it much as his own. It had been Math's, then...yeah it just was a weird communal vehicle or something. Dean had probably driven it more than he had. "Take your time." he told her, not at all in a hurry to get rid of her.

"Okay," she said briefly before disappearing back into his room. Nic didn't actually make a move to change back into her own clothes, instead stuffing her pants into her backpack and pulling her sweatshirt on over Caleb's loaned shirt. She smirked a little, tossing her Helmet tee into his bed for him to find later. With his scars, he probably wouldn't ever wear it, but whatever. It was the thought that counted. Eventually she headed back out, tugging her backpack on and slipping her hood up. "All set whenever you are."

He got up, pushing himself up from the couch, and he stretched for a moment, before he walked towards the door. Towards the door and not her, even if he almost detoured that way anyways. He opened it up for her, then stepped out first, because he was still just that paranoid. Now would make having a remote starter cool. But there was nothing out there. Hell. He didn't even hear sirens. Walking to the car, he leaned back against it, and opened up the passenger's side door for her, fully intending on waiting til she got in.

She headed out after him, helpless against a small laugh as Caleb swung open the car door and waited for her. "A girl could get used to this," she warned playfully, resisting the urge to jab him with a finger as she shirked her backpack and climbed in. "Home, Jeeves," Nic said with a wink as she buckled up. So yeah, it was going to be hard. But there'd been some kind of friendship before all the confusing thoughts had invaded, right? So maybe she could just find a way back there for however long she'd need to.

He smirked, then walked around the car, getting in. "Don't get too used to it." he told her. "And aren't you the kind of girl who'd look on chivalry with a 'fuck that noise' sort of attitude?" he asked, grinning at her before he backed out of the driveway. He for one was thinking he needed to just get it through his head that he needed to curb a lot of the flirting he did with her. He knew better than to think he'd be able to dial back the natural attraction there. But he could change how he reacted to it.

"Chivalry, yes," she confirmed, resting her pack across her knees, "Being spoiled? Hell no. So the odd chauffeur treat is okay. Why, are you telling me you're suddenly a chivalrous guy? Because I could've sworn I'd heard otherwise." And from Caleb himself, no less. But she didn't want to raise that issue again tonight, so Nic was quick to tag on a light grin as she joked with him. If she wanted to decrease her own flirtations? She could still tease, she just had to make less of a habit of hitting him. Physical contact, that seemed to be the tricky part.

"Generally I'm not. But occasionally it happens." Caleb told her, shifting to drive them to her house. He knew he was going to need to get his head in gear about everything. Really think it over, reassess. Figure out how to just...not go there with Nic. Because at the moment, he had no real intention of telling her the truth. Not the truth she needed, anyways. Maybe that would wind up being their saving grace. He wouldn't screw everything up for her, and they could remain friends...or something. He didn't know. It wasn't like he was the world's most hope-filled guy or anything.

Nic could practically see the wheels turning, but wasn't going to call him on it. If she did, they'd end up sitting in her driveway for an hour arguing about things, and she figured they'd both been frustrated by plenty tonight. "Well, I'll keep an eye out for it. You can hold my oil rags when I finally get under this hood," she promised him, winking and patting the dash of the car. She was going to hold out hope for the truth, but Nic was faintly wondering if maybe she'd pushed too hard or said too much. All I can do is wait and see, she told herself, watching the town zip by as they grew closer to her house.

He pulled into her driveway not too long after, letting that silence stretch out. He looked over at her once the car was stopped, and knew he should probably say something. Like he'd see her at school. Or to be careful, or to call him if she needed anything. There were a lot of options. He just didn't actually articulate any of them. He was always shit at goodbyes of any description, even extending to hanging up the phone, and right now it wasn't any easier.

She was right there with him in wondering what to say for a long moment. Nic didn't do standard goodbyes very well, and even if she did? There was enough tension between them that she was guaranteed to ruin any attempt. So she gave herself one last indulgence in the name of physicality. Nic leaned between the seats, slipping her arms around Caleb for a tight, impromptu hug that she ended before she could really savor it. If she lingered, she'd open herself up to plenty of problems again. So she sat back with a self-conscious grin, popping her door open. "Call me whenever you feel like it, no rush," she told Caleb, stepping out of the car and leaning down to look back in, "I'll be home." And then she was gone, shutting the door before he could tempt her to linger, moving to her front door with a sigh of overwhelming confusion.