There's more than just monsters out there

who: lee and lulu
where: lee's kitchen
when: early morning

Cecille had been a big one for the kitchen as the heart of the home, and so if ever somebody was to come into the house that was exactly where they were likely to find her little brother. Lee liked it in there, it was a brighter room, and so much more lived in than anywhere else he knew; and it was where he always started his mornings.

Even when his head was completely killing him. Lee had woken up about thirty minutes earlier and his brain had apparently resented it like all hell. He was just thankful Journey wasn't around to see him rubbing his temples and willing the pain pills he'd taken soon as he woke up to work better, faster. A cup of coffee rested in front of him, busy going quite cold, but he ignored it for the most part. It was getting better and it'd be fine in a minute, fine in a minute, fine in a minu--- damn. That had been the front door opening and closing. Lee tugged his hand down from the side of his head and blinked as Lullaby entered the room.

"Morning, Lullaby," he greeted her, smiling all the same at the sight of her. Journey's best friend always brightened up things, irregardless of their root cause.

Lullaby was stopping in far earlier than she usually did, at least for a summer vacation day, and she smiled at Lee. She was kind of half-hiding her sprained fingers behind her back, not wanting him to fuss and she figured he would. She went to sit at the table with him. "Morning, Unc." she said, her hand safely hidden beneath the table. "Um...I know Journey's probably not up yet, do you have a couple minutes to talk?"

"Hey, of course I do honey," Lee told her straightaway. Even if he didn't he would make it so he could; because he loved Lullaby too, like Journey, and always did what she needed. He pushed his coffee cup out the way and propped his chin up with his hand, regarding her with a smile of his own. "What's up? You need help with some biology homework or something?"

She laughed. "No, but I'm sure I will soon enough." she added. "Actually it's...it's about Michael." she said hesitantly. She already felt bad about everything, but he'd said she could talk to him. So she was talking to him. She just hoped it didn't ruin his day or something.

......Lee blinked quite slowly. "Journey's dad, Micheal?" he asked for clarification. All the while crossing his fingers (in plain sight, not that he knew) that this was just Lullaby asking about family history, and not about her best friend getting possessed by his dead father who Lee was going to friggin' kill again if it was because poor Lullaby couldn't exactly hear the change in his voice and never mind he was a ghost and oh shit if he had....

Lullaby blinked at that. So that was where she'd known the name from!! "I--is that who he is?" she asked, leaning forward and forgetting about hiding her hand, which came up to join her other on the tabletop. "I...I talked to him yesterday, and Journey's eyes changed, and he said you knew, and...is that who he is? He wouldn't tell me."

Oh for god's almighty sake, Micheal! Lee's expression pretty much said that outloud, though he didn't open his mouth for a long moment. Oh Lullaby... she must have been so scared. For a hard moment, Lee felt all his own instincts for her rise up hard and vicious, but he tried to force it away because there was really, honestly, nothing to be done except try to... to do something about this right now.

"Yes, that's who he is," Lee said quietly, looking at her with very worried eyes and stress suddenly sending the ache behind his eyes into a new level of pain. Not that he could spare the attention to care.

"I'm so sorry, Lullaby. He probably scared you, but it's-- it's not bad. He's a good person, okay? He'd never hurt you at all, okay, honey?"

She nodded. "Okay. He...well he showed up because of this." she said, still signing though it was weird with only the one hand, and she gestured to her sprained fingers, that were still in their metal straightifier things. "He said..." she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He said there were really monsters." she said, saying it clearly even if she wanted to immediately assure him she wasn't insane. But she didn't, because she wanted to hear what he'd say. She really didn't think Lee would lie to her. He was her uncle too. Well, not, but not the point. He was in her heart.

The gentle blonde vet sitting across from Lullaby suddenly wanted to put his fist through something. It was a combination of the fact that Micheal had actually said that to a sixteen year old girl (to his sixteen year--) and the reality that something of that nature had gone for her. Lee's big hands immediately extended to gently cradle and examine Lullaby's splinted fingers, checking for what the injuries were, as his mind reeled over the fact that he was sitting at his kitchen table talking to little Lullaby about... this.

Lee swallowed and try to think of what to say, having a hard time finding anything he could use in his scatter-brained head and loathing himself for it suddenly. "Well since he's a ghost and just managed to talk to you yesterday..." Lee sighed and tried to say it the right way. "There's more than just monsters out there, Lullaby," he said gently. Because of course, Micheal would have neglected to mention that, with everything always concentrated on what kind of monster could be sitting next to his protectee on the bus, rather than what kind of angel.

"What else is there?" she asked, letting him look over her hand. "It's okay, they're just sprained. I'll be good as new later. I've got scratches on my leg too, but um...we're trying to make sure Journey doesn't know what happened because he'll go running off to try to get whatever it was, and he'd get hurt." she said. "So don't tell him, kay? I suck at not telling him anything, but with everything else going on, I kinda managed to leave it out."

"Good things and bad things," Lee said, looking up from her hand to make sure she could see his face. "And powerful things and weak things. Same as always, Lullaby." He offered her a smile probably meant to be reassuring, but looking worried anyway. His mind was trying to run down three tracks at once and his head was hurting so he could barely concentrate on catching one thought. Her leg, she'd hurt her leg. Lee pushed up out his chair and went around to kneel next to her. "Let me see your leg," he said, needing to check it wasn't infected. His face was turned to hers, so she could pick up the words, "You're right about Journey, Lullaby. He gets reckless when you're hurt or upset." And damn, just damn what the hell was he going to do about controlling him now? With the curse and a monster (a demon probably) on the loose in his nephew's life.

Lullaby happened to be wearing a skirt, since wearing jeans kind of irritated the scratches, so at least she didn't have to change. She moved, then tugged it up enough so he could see the bandages she had on them. "I went to the hospital. They said they were okay, I think." she said, though she peeled back the bandages anyhow so Lee could see them. "He had me down, and I tried to knee him, and he used his back leg to stop it and push it back down." she explained.

Lee truly, really, couldn't bear to be hearing the details on this. The gashes in her leg were enough to make it unbearable. He nodded while she spoke, keeping his eyes down on her leg as he taped the bandages back up. Didn't look cursed or anything, or poisoned. Lee didn't know a phenomenal amount about the supernatural world, but having Micheal for a brother-in-law and being resident in Marquette all his life gave him more than enough practical knowledge to get by on the little things... like when his nephew's best friend nearly got her leg torn off by a monster guy.

"Okay," Lee said softly, to himself since she couldn't see just then. He pulled his hands back and looked up at her. She was just a little kid... Lee could never bear it when kids got hurt or scared around him, just not ever. "Lullaby, I'm sorry but I've got to get you to promise me some things, okay?"

She nodded her head, not sure what she was going to have to promise, but sure that it would be okay. It was Unc. He wouldn't ask anything too hard of her, like stuff she couldn't do. God, why did she feel about five years old right now? She did, and for now, that was okay. She just felt better with him there telling her things, she knew she could trust him and maybe everything would be okay.

Here it went, Lee hoped he was saying everything he needed to say. Lullaby always looked at him with trust, like family, and he hated needing to put this kind of weight on her shoulders. "Okay," he smiled a little weakly at her as she nodded. "Now first, I need you to promise me you're going to be much more careful. No going places on your own after twilight. You know you can always call Journey and he'll come walk you somewhere, or maybe that boy Joshua who you still never told me about," he gave her a gentle prod in the knee for that. "But if it comes down to it just try and call me and we'll do something. I didn't know that there was anybody as bad as that in town, so you have to be careful and I'll tell Journey the same. That's the first thing."

She smiled a bit at the mention of her not telling him about Joshua, though it didn't remain long because she knew the gravity of the situation. "Okay. I got it." she said. "Michael told me to wear a religious symbol so I have this pentacle..." she said, showing him. "And I gave Journey a cross...I have one for you if you don't have one." she said. She thought he probably did, but she wanted to be sure.

"Awh, Lullaby," Lee sighed, reaching up to give her shoulder a little squeeze. It still got to him when she thought of stuff like that for him, made it so much more obvious they were like family. "I've got one, but do me a favour and keep the spare one with you? So if you're with a friend and something should happen you've got a spare." He looked up at her from where he still knelt down on the floor, and forced himself to say the next thing he needed her to promise. "Second thing I need you to promise is not to tell Journey about his dad. Not about him being a ghost or about him being still around or anything, okay?" His blue eyes were completely honest with her as he asked her to trust him, like they hopefully could be the day he'd have to sit down with Journey and try and say this. "It's not because you did anything bad, or because I don't trust you or something. It's because it's my responsibility to tell Journey about Micheal. It's not something you ever were supposed to know, and I'm sorry I'm asking you to keep a secret from him."

He really, really was. It was a huge thing to ask Lullaby, to ask any best friend, but Lee knew this was the only way to deal with Micheal's irresponsibility.

Lullaby winced. "I'm really sorry." she said. "I told him. But he doesn't know it's his dad. I can kinda...not tell him that..." she said, looking pained, and she gave Lee a hug. "I'm sorry, I'm just such a bad liar, and I really can't do it with Journey. Like, at all. He knows in like two seconds, and he doesn't know everything. I didn't say the name or anything, and we kind of just...talked around it I guess. I feel really bad, can you tell him I'm sorry too? I'm sorry..."

Oh for god's sake, Micheal! Lee tugged his arms around Lullaby and hugged her back warmly, trying to soothe the upset in her now. It wasn't much but it was the best he could do. She couldn't see to lip read while he was hugging her, even if he could hear her so he just embraced her for a while, closing his own eyes and trying to think. It was still hard, and his head was still killing him, but when she couldn't stop apologizing he pulled back and held her shoulders and just made sure she looked at him. "It's okay, Lullaby. It's alright." He was glad she couldn't hear what his voice sounded like, because Lee always had been an abysmal liar too and right now his voice betrayed how much he wanted this entire conversation to have undone itself. "You don't owe me or Micheal any apologies. We owe you everything because you're such a good friend to Journey. Things are alright, it's just a little different because you know."

She nodded, feeling a little better that she hadn't messed everything up. "We're gonna be checking in every day now." she said. "To make sure everything's okay." They talked often enough in the first place, they just made a solid standing order of it now. "Is there anything else I can do? And I'm really worried about Journey, he thinks he's going crazy, and he asked me when he blacked out if he hurt me." she continued, the obvious horror in that statement clear in her eyes. "He'd never hurt me, and he's worried that's what he might be doing, and he...he really can't keep just blacking out and not knowing what's going on!"

This was a nightmare, but Lee did his best to keep it together. When he was doing so for somebody else's sake, for Lullaby's sake, it wasn't impossible and he managed it. He needed to make her calm down, because it was getting even more difficult to deal with the panic on her face and horror in her eyes which he very much wanted to share. "I'll talk to him," Lee said, knowing now he would have to and he could never take it back. And that Journey, who he loved more than anything, was probably going to hate him and feel nothing but betrayed because of it. "I promise I'll talk to him, and in the meantime all you can do is what you always do anyway. Be his friend, and we'll both look out for him, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay." she said, relief flooding into her eyes. She sighed, dragging her fingers through her short hair, and she released a deep breath. That was all she really needed. Just some reassurance. "I'll always be that." she said, giving him a little smile. "Uhoh...are you gonna be late?" she asked, suddenly looking up at the time.

Lee smiled at her just a little, his eyes still a bit strained. "I always am," he assured her, giving her one last hug before crossing around to the table and looking down at the coffee he hadn't managed to drink. He really wanted to medicate himself a bit more, but anything more than the dose he was on meant he'd be incoherent for the next five hours and he had to go in to work and see Mina. Mina who'd mentioned having a talk regarding Micheal. Lee sighed and shoved a hand into his pocket looking for his keys. After this, telling Mina what had happened yesterday was going to be a cakewalk. "Okay, well there's some fruit in the fridge and plenty of snacks and drinks and stuff so help yourself like always honey," he told her, looking over at Lullaby. "Are you sure you're okay with me going? You can come with me to the vet surgery if you want, or I can stay if you need me to."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm just gonna..." she paused, then grinned. "Do your dishes." she said, since they seemed to have piled up again. "Then maybe some laundry. Go on, I'll be okay. And if I need anything, I'll make Journey call you." she promised. She paused, then looked at him again. "Thanks, Unc." she added. "I feel better now." she said honestly.

Lee was of the firm opinion that she shouldn't ever have had anything to feel bad about, but he couldn't argue with her or anyone over it. Life was not fair - he'd known this since he was a toddler and had it reinforced with horrible regularity all his thirty five years. But it didn't mean you shouldn't persevere and find joy in it. Or find ways to make others feel better. He smiled at her and nodded, finding his keys right in front of him on the kitchen counter in a mug. Scooping them out he waved to her on his way out to work, calling out same thing he told her often as he told Journey. "Love you, Lullaby. I'll see you soon."