Soap Opera Moments!

Who: Dean and Nic
Where: The Chapel
When: Afternoon

Nic had never considered just what she might do in a literal siege scenario, how she'd react or hold up under the stress. Even if she'd put thought into it before, it wouldn't have lined up with the reality. Not so long ago, the girl had lived for her own bravado, and up until the night she'd seen (and helped kill) a werewolf she'd liked to think that she would be the one kicking ass and taking names. The truth wasn't a disappointment, but it was far from her imagination.

There was no part of Nic that wanted to test herself against these things, and she'd spent every moment since Skye's death rechecking the barricades on the other windows, trying not to recall what she'd seen. She didn't want to see Skye's feet kicking in the snow again, or hear the other girl's choked scream get cut short. Of course, eventually she'd checked and rechecked everything. Nic had withdrawn on herself at that point, desperate to avoid thinking of the bloodshed or of things with Caleb. She'd stretched out on a pew with her backpack, cracking her book of witchcraft and digging out her meager components. There hadn't been a trick that had worked yet, but if there was ever a time for it to start? It was now.

Conversely, Dean knew exactly how he'd react in a siege situation, having been through a couple in the last few months. This kind of thing was almost normal to him, but for all of that, it didn't get any better. He and Thia had still been lying down in the back when Skye had been dragged out, and Dean wasn't dealing overly well with the fact he hadn't been there. There were too many parallels with watching Joshua and Thia go out the window when the vampires were laying siege to their house. But, in his usual way for circumstances like this, he'd pushed it back. he could deal with it later - now wasn't the time. But there were other things that he really did need to deal with, and when he saw Nic on her own, he decided that she was one of them. Especially now, especially when things had just got so much worse. "Hey - you got a minute?" he asked, heading over, but not sitting down yet.

She'd been laying out bits of some plant with small strips of ribbon; components that theoretically could ease pain but that had never worked for her. When Dean drew close, Nic flipped her book shut around a page-marking finger and reached to rub the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Never thought the difference between lilac and lavender would be such a big fucking deal," she muttered, shaking her head and giving him a wan smile, "But yeah, doesn't look like I'm going anywhere. What's up?"

Normally, Dean would have hesitated on that, but today, he didn't, instead sitting down and turning towards her, setting the spare clip he'd been carrying with him down between them. he really missed pockets, that was for sure. "Wondered if you needed to talk about anything," he said, since there were plenty of issues that he could broach right now.

"Fucking understatement, Germany," she told Dean, shaking her head as she swung her legs off the pew and started to pile up everything that had come out of the backpack. "Think I could talk myself mute right now, or maybe talk you deaf," Nic went on as she fished out her smokes, scowling at how low one of the packs had gotten, "But we're not really... y'know, not the best place. It's nothing for public viewing." But even as she said that, she couldn't quite help the strain from showing. Dean knew, Caleb had said so. What was more? Dean had known Lullaby was alive, he'd been keeping her safe. He was quite literally the man with the keys to the castle in this moment.

Dean twitched a small smile at her deaf comment, considering his own hearing problems - which weren't a problem at all at the moment, things were so quiet. He shrugged, "There's a room at the back," he suggested, nodding to one of the doors. He considered giving her an out, saying they could talk another time, but decided against it. He wanted to talk to her now, at least have a preliminary talk anyhow.

Popping free a cigarette, Nic tucked it between her lips and chewed tersely at the filter for a moment, aching to light up. She wasn't going to let herself, thinking that right now her lung capacity was more crucial than three minutes of stress relief, but the idea was tempting. Instead, she nodded Dean's way and rose from the pew, waving in Thom's direction and pointing towards the back as if to say that he could find her there if she was needed. "C'mon," she told Dean plainly, moving through the chapel and determinedly avoiding looking at the broken window in passing.

Dean followed, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the room as they headed across to the back. He waited for Nic to go in before him and then sat himself down just inside the doorway, leaving the door open, so that he had at least go a partial view of what was going on out there, yet they still had privacy to talk. He wasn't going to be going to sleep on the job again. Once he was reasonably happy with his position, he turned back to Nic and waited, expectantly, giving her the floor.

Nic wanted to pace around the small room, but she wasn't going to put herself any nearer to potential trouble than she absolutely had to. Forcing herself to stand still, she jammed her fingers in her sweatshirt pocket as she looked to Dean, chewing at her smoke anxiously. "So... I'm not scared," she began carefully, "Caleb trusts you, you trust her, so by proxy he does too? And I trust both of you. But... Lullaby? I mean, Caleb told me there was some kind of spell on her, that she actually died. Help me understand here, Dean. What is she? Why would someone do that to her?" It was far easier to ask about one unknown than to admit to her fears about the other, after all.

Dean kept his eyes on her while she spoke. He kept half an ear on the room outside, but he never once glanced away from Nic. He was vaguely aware that he could look fairly intense at times, when he gave someone his attention, and that some people found that vaguely disconcerting, but that was just who he was, and he wasn't going to try and change that now. "Caleb doesn't trust her just by proxy," he said, wanting to clear that up straight away. "He trusts her. I don't have anything to do with that. What happened was that her father was an obsessive fucking bastard of a degree you can't even begin to imagine. And he thought it would be a good idea to use black magic to make his little girl immortal, ish - she never knew about that. She didn't know her dad, growing up. Her mum wouldn't let her see him - and now I understand why. Anyway, the spell he cast over her? It wouldn't actually kick in until she died. And he wanted his little girl to stay his little girl - so he had her shot. He had her killed. And then he came for her. The man who destroyed her life, her own father who'd had her killed, tried to take her away. And she wouldn't go. So, she's with me now. And she's Thia - she's Lullaby. That hasn't changed. She's still the same person she was. It's just that she's... she's different as well." He stopped himself there - this was far too important to ramble about. He'd been working really hard at keeping his tone quiet and steady, serious. It helped that the real dark emotion of talking about her father had kept him grounded.

There was a lot to consider in there, really. Like the idea that Caleb knew far more about Lullaby than Nic had thought, though she understood why he hadn't said much. Then there was the idea of black magic so strong that it could do the things Dean was saying. Nic knew that had to be part of why Caleb wanted her to avoid it. Sure, it could make you immortal, but first you had to die. Eventually she nodded, feeling like any opinion she might have about Lullaby's dad would sound trite or unimportant to someone who had endured all of that with her. "I... I'm not going to be spooked around her or anything, okay? She was always decent to me, even if I didn't pay it back. And I get why you'd want to watch out for her. So just, shit I dunno, tell her I say hey. That I'm sorry she had to go through that."

Dean raised an eyebrow and cocked his head a little. "You could tell her hey yourself," he suggested, lightly. That was one of the things he wanted to know - where that stemmed from. Whether it was Nic trying to purposefully avoid the dead girl without it seeming that she was being rude, or whether it was her actually trying for some sensitivity or something right now.

"She looked scared," Nic murmured, shifting her weight from foot to foot anxiously, "And dude, Dean? I scare people who haven't been through that shit. I wasn't going to go barging in on you and her for that. I figured maybe, if we all got out of here, I'd have a chance. But... yeah, if you don't think she'd mind? I'd like to say hi." Nic had been trying for some empathy, failing spectacularly in her effort to give some space and privacy to a girl who'd showed up to a room full of distrustful stares and shocked expressions. Because really, in a situation involving flesh-eating demons, the not-quite-dead girl who her friends said was safe wasn't a terror for Nic to try and avoid.

Dean shrugged again. "She is scared," he said, honestly. "She died - everyone knew she'd died. But she's still around. That's not your average situation - even with spirits being seeable now. There's people out there who would... react badly to her. Really badly. Like would want to hunt her down and kill her badly. And now people know - everyone here knows. That's a huge unknown. And also - most of these people she knew, growing up. She was friends with some of them and now... This wasn't the way it was meant to go. Not that there really was a way, but yeah - not like this. But, if you wanted to say hi - it would really help, if people could just... She'll hide herself away, you know. Keep herself back from people - so they don't have to 'deal with her'. She sees herself as a problem. It would be good if someone else could treat her like she's not. If they could and mean it," he suggested.

"Maybe when we're done here, I can head in with you," Nic offered, nodding in confirmation of the idea. Even without Dean saying it'd help, she'd wanted to see Lullaby. Sure, she had questions, but she also thought there'd be some measure of kinship with a girl rooted much more deeply in the weird side of life than Nic herself was. "I mean, I know enough to know I don't know shit. But it's not hard to imagine how fucked up it must be for her, so... yeah, count me in, however you need me." It would be a small step for Nic to work at, accepting someone else she'd known who was suddenly revealed to be so much more. Maybe it'd even give her perspective. "He told me," Nic suddenly found herself saying, the repression cracking in the wake of Dean's honesty, "It's been like... a month now, and I just kept wondering what he would never let himself say? And... he told me, right before he left."

"If you want me to come with you to talk to her, I will. I just... If you don't need me, it might look a little less like I'd brought you, like set you up? If I wasn't there," Dean said, his mind already going over how things would look to Thia. He'd much prefer that people talked to her without his involvement, well, as long as they were going to be okay about things, that was, of course. "And yeah, he told me he'd told you. He's been trying to find a way to tell you for a while now. I kinda only know because he was testing out his approach, I think. He wanted to tell you and wanted to know how it would go over, so he told me instead."

Nic took a deep breath, shoulders rolling as she concentrated on Lullaby first, shoving her apprehension aside. "Yeah, I'll just go see her myself," she assured Dean, "It's a good call. She, um, it's a good thing you've got her back covered, man." There was even a tiny smile for him as Nic considered, for a moment, the implications from the past to suggest that maybe Dean was with Lullaby. "But if he was testing out his approach? Shit, that kid needs more work. Or a chance to do it over," Nic mused quietly, "I... Dean, I know him. He's not a monster! He's... he's fucking Caleb, you know? He's that skinny little asshole who gets mad if I rag on myself too much, who just decides to bail people out of trouble like this but gets all kinds of pissed off if you imply that he's heroic for it. I knew he was dark, now I just know why..." But she still needed time, Caleb had been right. There were aspects of the truth that unnerved her, even if the majority of Nic was ready to accept it all.

Dean chuckled a little at the way Nic had put that and had to wonder whether the girl hadn't put the pieces together. "She's my girlfriend - it kinda goes with the territory," he said, softly, deciding to just be straightforward about it. He could understand that some people might think it weird that he was dating a girl whose funeral he attended, but they would be the people who didn't fully understand, and his job was to help make them understand - and that meant them also accepting their relationship. "As for Caleb... Yeah, he needs more work. Did he bugger it up? I bet he buggered it up, right? I told him he would, if he didn't really work on things after he told me, cos... He's better than he'll let himself admit and I don't know if he knows it. But Nic, I'm right there with you - I know him too and I'd trust him with my life. I've trusted him with my life. And no, he's not a monster - in no way is he a monster. We're not the same as our parents. He's not, I'm not, you're not, Thia's not... And at least two of that list had a pretty bloody psychotic parent in the mix," he pointed out. "He sells himself short."

There hadn't been enough free time to connect vague allusions to Dean's girlfriend and the revelation that Lullaby was alive, but the news wasn't a huge shock to Nic. Really, it was heartening to know; it was an example right in front of her that the nature of one person's existence didn't close them off from connections. If Dean could love a dead girl, why couldn't Nic come to terms with this in time? "Honestly? he didn't fuck it up," Nic said with a wan smile and a shake of her head, "He was definitely working against the clock, but he told me as much as he could. And, like... he told me to take time? Which I get, it's a lot, but it almost feel like..."

She trailed off, lips screwing together tightly as Nic wrestled her own thoughts into some kind of order. "He is selling himself short. And it feels like he's doing it to me too? Like, all the time we've spent together even before shit got close is just somehow nixed because he told me? And he was a half-demon then, same as now. It feels like he doesn't even consider the idea that the time when I didn't know was better, because I got to know him without any fucking preconceptions attached to who his mom was. I... I told him that who he is and what he is aren't the same thing, and he just walked out."

Dean quirked a half smile at that. "Yeah, I know how that one goes - I've had that conversation a couple of times myself. He's just... He kinda got screwed over by his last girlfriend. And, well, I get that he wants us to appreciate that his world view is going to be... off. But, as far as I'm concerned, he's been a much better friend to me than the guy I would have called my best friend before I came here, so, yeah. He's got my vote." As far as Dean was concerned, Caleb had been a hell of a lot more human than Andy had been, so what did fact of birth really matter, at the end of the day?

"He has mine too," Nic agreed, managing a smile for Dean, "But then, he has since like... the second time I hung out with him. I'll just need some time, Caleb's right there. Even if my gut instinct doesn't change? I need to figure out as much as I can about this. I remember him talking about his ex, Leija?" She didn't really like going into this topic, but Dean was here to listen and this seemed like as good a chance as any to voice her worries. "He talked about how she'd, like, put everything on him, not even listen to what was dragging him down? Which, weirdly, is why we hung out so much. But now I'm worried I'm gonna do that, you know? Get so caught up in my own shit that I don't even consider how things are for him, how he might feel with everything he's got to deal with. And I know I don't want to do that, I don't want to ever be someone he can't come to." Sighing, Nic finally shook her head at herself and quirked another smile at Dean. Even in the midst of all of this, it felt good to just have the chance to air a shred of her worries. "And, uh... thanks dude. I can see why Caleb swears by you so strongly. And for real, if you need anything? You or Lullaby, and I'll tell her too, but I've got your back."

Dean looked a little surprised when she told him that Caleb swore by him. He hadn't known that, and definitely hadn't expected it. Dean always tended to discount his importance to other people. "I just... Look, the fact you're worried about doing that? Probably means you're not going to do it. Just don't let yourself, keep aware of it, and you won't," he suggested to her, going his usual route of ignoring anything that might vaguely be any kind of a compliment.

The advice was a close echo of plenty that Nic had been given lately: acknowledge your doubts and fears, admit that they're there, and you could avoid them. And that gave her hope all by itself, just knowing that it had worked in other areas of life. It'd work here too. She nodded finally, sighing long and low as Nic twisted her head to pop her neck. "I'm gonna do my damndest, count on that shit," she told Dean, "Or I will if we survive this fucking made-for-cable movie we're in. Which we'll have better odds of if I stop having a soap opera moment and let us both get back to doing what needs doing." The vulnerability was mostly gone, pushed aside as Nic gathered her wits and stubbornness, knowing she'd need both to see this through.

Dean chuckled a little at that. "Yeah, well, I kinda feel like I'm on the fourth sequel to my movie," he admitted. "But... Not all soap opera moments are bad. Sometimes they're kinda needed," he offered, hoping that that made sense and he wasn't just sounding like a complete and utter idiot with the sentiment.

"I'm figuring that out, yeah," Nic agreed with another meager smirk. If she looked back at her life in the past few months? Everything had gotten so complicated, and Nic being Nic, it was hard for her to admit as much to herself even. So what Dean said did make sense, and these moments were appreciated. Even if she felt stupid in them when they happened, the chance to voice her tumultuous thoughts was one she never wanted to take for granted. "Shit, dude. If you're on part four, you're totally safe. Got yourself a film franchise going. I'll try and cook up a witty title for you," Nic promised as she moved to the door out and back to the main chapel.