What Experiences Make Us

Who: Dean and Lullaby
Where: Their house
When: Late

Dean had stayed at the house for several hours after Caleb had left, his migraine full and raging, leaving him curled up in a small ball on the bed in the attic, trying to press the world out with a pillow over his head. He'd been tempted to stay there all night, but he knew he couldn't - people would come looking for him if he did that, and if he had to deal with people, he'd prefer it was on his own terms. So, after a while, he'd made himself get up and go downstairs, rooting through one of the first aid kits that Sophie routinely had everywhere you could possibly want one and swallowing some painkillers. he'd waited a bit longer until they kicked in enough to just take the edge off, then started for home, driving slowly on the icy roads.

He got home without any incident more than some irate drivers honking him to tell him he was driving too slowly - which really didn't help his migraine by any stretch of the imagination - and he pulled up in front of the house, letting himself in the front door and shucking off his boots, before he headed straight upstairs. Oz had hearing, he'd have heard the car, and the door. He didn't need an 'I'm home' to know he was.

Lullaby was in her room, and had been most of the day. She'd been doing simple painting, touch ups here and there, preparing for when Dean was going to start on the mural properly. She'd also been keeping one eye on the clock as the night really descended. She kept telling herself that she wasn't going to be that girl, wasn't going to bother him when he was just out with his friends and stuff. though it wasn't that that was bothering her, it was that it was after dark, and she knew he wasn't armed. The key to the beretta was still on her wrist, and he hadn't asked for it back. She wasn't bringing it up, either. That was his choice. That was fully his choice. Being she kept looking at the clock, and happened to be by her now nice and shiny window that wasn't at all shattered by stray 9mm rounds, she saw when he pulled up. Then she hesitated, biting at her lip as she glanced towards her own door. Did she go greet him? What were the rules there? She'd missed him. The flight had taken for fucking ever, and she'd been awake again in no time since she'd popped back at the orphanage. And he'd had things to do when he got back, so she hadn't seen him in...god she was one of those pathetic people, wasn't she. Who knew it had been hours and hours since she'd seen her honey.

So she was caught between wanting to go peek out her door and see him, and talk to him, and ask him how he was and everything, and staying back, just in case he was tired and wanted to go straight to bed or something. In the end, she caved, and cracked her door open, peeking into the hallway with about as much stealth as a neon sign. That got even less stealthy as she saw the blackness that preceeded Dean himself, and she opened the door, watching up the hall with concern, already taking one step out into it.

Dean saw her as he headed for his room and he didn't actually say anything at all to her, didn't slow down, didn't do anything but detour just enough to be able to grab her hand and pull her along in his wake, heading through his bedroom door and into his closet. He left the light off and closed the door behind them, plunging them into darkness as he pulled her down with him, lying down in the blankets which were still there - still there, but smelling suspiciously like someone had collected them up, washed them, and arranged them back just as they'd been before. He positioned her on her side, then curled up around her, his chest to her back as he buried his face in her head and waited for the world to go away again.

She didn't say anything immediately either, and of course, the second that he took her hand, she sought out and felt the pain he was in. God, another migraine. He'd been...really hard to deal with last time she'd been there for one. But maybe it would be slightly different this time. For one thing she could do all the little things she couldn't have that time, which was snuggle him appropriately. She half wondered if BB, who'd been in her room with her, had tried to follow or not, but he'd been happy exploring under her bed, and wasn't known for being deterred from his adventures so easily. She let him arrange them, even if she would have rathered hold him at a time like this. Whatever worked. She hugged his arm around her lightly, and when she spoke, it was softly, because he could hear well enough as it was, and she didn't want to do anything that might aggravate his head. "Do you want me to go get you ice for your head?" she asked. "Or a washcloth to put on it?" she'd done that last time and he'd liked that well enough. As much as he'd liked anything in those moments.

Dean shook his head like a child, then really wished he hadn't, because it felt like that sent his brain rattling round inside his skull. He curled up a little more, pulling her tightly against him. "Cloth would be good," he said, this time sounding like a petulant child and even though he'd just been refusing it.

She hugged him some more, lightly petting his arm for a few moments before she lightly tried pulling away. Because being told to go get something didn't work so well when one was being held so tight. "I'll be right back." she said, voice still soft, tone soothing. It was her 'I'll take care of you' tone. She wanted to know what brought this on, and if he'd accidentally fried something, and that was it, or what happened. But she'd wait.

Dean resisted for a moment, then let her go, reaching for a pillow to bring to his chest to take her place.

She did everything quickly, getting herself into his bathroom, not turning on the light til the door was shut again, and she got a washcloth and wet it, checking the temperature of it so it was perfect, or what she deemed perfect, and then she flicked off the light once more, and entered the closet again. She carefully crept back over, found the pillow he was hugging, then sat down, reaching out to drift her fingers through his hair, and she set the cloth to his forehead, holding it in place for him while she petted his hair.

He shuffled as he felt her sit down, moving so that his head was in her lap, letting go of the pillow to curl his arms around her leg, pressing his head into the cloth a little more. He hated migraines, they hurt - and he hadn't even deserved this one. He hadn't done anything to bring it on. But then, that wasn't always the way - he'd always suffered with migraines. Some of them came as backlash, some of them came because of an excess of noise in his environment, and then some of them... just came. He just wished it would just go again.

She leaned her back comfortably against the wall, and was glad for the switch. She remembered the last time he'd had one of these. He'd done the same thing, and it had been the first time he'd done anything of the kind. Which...really had highlighted for her how much pain he'd been in, even if she could feel it and just know. She lightly and continuously pet his hair, and kept the cloth in place, not saying anything for a while, just letting him rest. She turned the cloth over when it heated too much from his body heat, wanting to keep things cool for him. She also started to clear out all of the negative energy he had, which built up more than usual because generally, since they'd been in England, she kind of did it all the time, cleared him out periodically through the day. But it had been hours since she'd been around him long enough to do it, so there was a tiny buildup. When that was gone, she wondered about the migraine. Could she channel that? She'd channeled headaches for him before. She'd cured his hangover, anyways. She kept silent for another few long minutes before she spoke softly. "Can I try and channel this?" she asked. She didn't figure he'd be in too good a mood if she just yanked it from him without a word, especially if she wound up with it.

"Yes," Dean said, stopping himself from trying to nod again. He didn't care what she did right now - if she could take the migraine away, she could do anything she liked and he wasn't going to argue with her. he knew he should be being more mature and sensible about this, but he'd never been with migraines - they always turned him into a five year old child who'd stayed up too late the night before.

She stilled her fingers in his hair and tried. Wasn't hard, with the negativity coming off of him in waves, anyways. She started to channel it, and she had drawn in a good chunk of it before she realized that her head was starting to pound. Still, she drew in more of it trying for at least half, before she made a little wincy-sound.

Dean breathed a sigh, smiling slightly as the pressure in his head began to ease. He kept his eyes closed, safe in the knowledge that he was in good hands, that she'd take care of him, like she always had before. Until, that was, he heard the little pained noise she made and he looked up, twisting until he was lying on his back, looking upwards, just able to make out her outline in the darkness. "You okay?" he asked, sounding slightly more normal now his migraine had been lowered to the point of 'moderately bad headache'.

She reached up to rub at the bridge of her nose. "...the good news is I think I got about half of it at least...the bad news is apparently I can't channel migraines..." she said, voice still soft. she noticed the change in his tone, though. That was good. "What about you though?" she asked, reaching out for him again, fingers combing through his hair. "I can take the rest of it, if you don't mind me curling up and you petting my hair for a while." she added.

Dean cringed slightly. "I'm - I'm sorry, Thia," he said, sitting himself up and pulling her against him, cradling her. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry - I just... No, you can't take the rest of it. And you're not to ever try that again - I can put up with a migraine. I'm sorry," he told her, feeling terrible about that. Though, the only reason he was with it enough to feel terrible about it was because he didn't have that migraine any more...

She leaned back against him, exhaling slightly and she grabbed the cloth to hold to her head for a bit. "Don't be sorry, I'm glad I got to knock it down a bit." she said. "And I got some of it before it kicked in. Maybe I just need to try it slower next time or something." she said, her head throbbing now, but she didn't sound like she regretted it. she didn't. "And stop that." she said softly, tilting her head back to kiss under his jaw very lightly. "You didn't hurt me." she stressed. "What brought it on, anyhow? Was everything okay today?"

"You trying to help me hurt you - same difference," he told her, taking over the holding of the cloth to her forehead. "And maybe you don't need to try it again at all. They always go away eventually," he told her. Of course, he didn't have to deal with him whilst he was enduring one. "And... I met up with Caleb. It was... We had a bit of an disagreement at the end. That didn't help," he told her.

She relaxed, and let him hold the cloth for a moment. This was much better than he was last time. So, she was calling the thud in her head worth it. She wanted to argue her point, but knew she didn't want to push it either. So she leaned her head back and drew in a deep breath, letting her eyes close. "What happened?" she asked, thinking that didn't sound good. They'd just got back, couldn't people not pick today to disagree? Honestly now.

Dean shook his head - actually able to do that this time. "It... It was just stupid. It doesn't matter," Dean said, not sure he wanted to go into it. He didn't know where it all left him. Just from a personal perspective.

Thia frowned and looked back at him again, eyes half shut, and she couldn't even see him, but still. She nuzzled lightly at the underside of his jaw. "Matters to me." she said, a gentle sort of prodding over it. She didn't want to push hard or anything, but she didn't want him repressing already. They'd just got home. It wasn't how they did things, and he knew that. Lightly, she traced along his wrist, sliding her fingertips back and forth along the cord there.

Of course it did. Dean sighed slightly, rolling his head back and allowing her to nuzzle for a moment or two, before he shifted, so that his head was more aligned with her ear - he tended to speak more quietly when his head was hurting. "Caleb - he's met this girl," he explained. "Nic. He likes her, but he was worried about her being okay. With the amount of shit that goes down here. So... I offered to teach her to shoot. If she wanted it. And - he didn't like it. The idea. He got all... Jealous, on me. All kind of 'that's all up close and personal' and all 'you're really good at that and that's all attractive to women' and shit. And when I called him on it, he tried to say that it wasn't me - that he knew I wouldn't do anything, but that he was worried that I'd just... turn her head or some bollocks. Even if I wasn't trying anything at all. So I said I wouldn't do it - that if she wanted to learn, I'd ask Oz if he'd teach her. But he wasn't happy with that either and said that it was just him being paranoid and shit. And I just... Yeah."

She listened, letting her eyes fall shut again. Quiet for a few moments, she thought over the information she had there, and tried to come up with a response to it. "I know you'll claim I'm biased here, but that kind of thing is attractive. Talent is in general. Like...you looked really good when you were drawing on my wall, too." she explained, to give him an example that wasn't at all connected to the gun. "It's just something about someone who can do something and do it well. It's kinda like...okay lead singers for bands. Not always the most attractive kinds of people in the world, some of them are downright ugly, but the singing, having the voice, that makes them attractive. Attraction is about a lot of things, that plays in on kinda a fundamental level. I blame it on ancestry, where if you weren't good at hunting or gathering, then your whole family was screwed, so you went for people who were good at things." she rambled slightly, tough it wasn't a nerves-ramble, it was just a thinking it through ramble. "And you are incredibly good looking, and sexy just by existing a lot of the time." she added. "That aside, though, there's got to be more to things than that. And if all something is is surface attraction then it goes away fast enough." she continued. "That's just the flat objective perspective." she said. "Other than that, does she like Caleb back? And I feel like I'm in middle school, saying that, but still...if she does, then he needs to trust her. I mean, I understand if he was worried if she didn't like him, because you can't help who you like, and if presented with someone like you, who's got this kinda...presence, yeah, alright, she might wind up with a crush or something, but even then, that doesn't mean that you would do anything, because you never would." she said, that last bit said with total confidence. She definitely wasn't going the jealous route here. "So, worst case scenario, you teach her, and she gets a bit infatuated with you, you turn her down--if she even brought it up in the first place--and end of story." She paused in thought again, head still thudding, but she was thinking around it. "And if she knows you're really taken, she probably wouldn't say anything in the first place, unless Caleb's taste in women runs towards the 'bitch' end of the spectrum. And let's not go there cuz then I'd get all possessive and have to find a way to tell her that you were mine and everything and she should really go find her own man. But that'd get all complicated." Especially if she was from around here. "...I had a question in there....right--does she like Caleb?"

"No - not end of story and, I don't know. I don't know her," Dean reminded her. "Just - if she's meant to like Caleb and then she likes me and... What'll happen? I'll turn her down-" since they both knew he would. "-but then that'll always be between me and him, that she... did that and I don't want that. I don't want that situation and if he thinks that it would happen - and you do too and... No. Just... I don't want to be that guy. I really, really don't want to be that guy. Because I've been on the receiving end of that and it fucking sucks," he told her.

She paused for a moment. "I protest wording." she said. "Caleb doesn't get to say who's meant to like him and who isn't, if he thinks he can dictate that then that's going against the concept of free will. I don't like the idea of people kinda...skirting around things and trying to manipulate someone into either liking one person or another. Like I said, people are going to like who they like." she said. "That said, I do actually get what you mean. And I didn't say I think it'd happen." she added. "I said I could get what he meant by the you being good at it being found attractive. doesn't mean I think that any girl who comes past would swoon in your wake by seeing it." she said, still tracing back and forth, tone thoughtful. "I just get the perspective. I mean, she might be a girl who finds other kinds of talent attractive, who knows. It's possible that she would with you, yeah, but I don't know how likely it would be." She lifted his hand up to press a kiss to the back of it. "If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. I'm sure if you asked Oz, he'd teach someone else things. He seems to enjoy it anyways, and he isn't a bad teacher." She was silent a moment. "Do guys hold that thing against each other long term?" she asked. She didn't know, she'd generally had friends of the opposite sex, and so she didn't exactly have the experience. Someone on some end would need to be gay to really have the same scenario fly.

"No - I... I don't... That's not what he meant, Thia," Dean said, immediately and typically leaping to Caleb's defence. "He didn't mean that at all. He - he doesn't... He isn't trying to say who she should and shouldn't... He's just - he's... He thinks I'm more acceptable, more normal than he is. He thinks - he thinks I'm better. Which I'm not, but... It bothers me that maybe I would come between him and the girl he likes, y'know? And... He's said he wouldn't hold it against me, but... I don't want to risk that." It was a hard thing to do. To not hold something like that against a friend. Andy had done it to him often enough, after all. And he'd had to really work to not be bothered by that shit. And he knew it was a lie. He'd always been bothered, he'd simply overruled himself.

Listening, she nodded after a few moments of thinking things over. "If you don't want to risk things, and the idea bothers you...just talk to Oz. He taught you first, right?" she asked. "Even if I think you didn't actually need to be taught much. So, technically you could say that you were just handing her over to the one who taught you what you know. And...he's married. And a werewolf. And somehow I don't think Sophie would feel threatened. Or that he knows other girls exist." She would say he was older, because he seemed older, but he knew there was still 'teen' tacked onto his age number.

"That's what I said I'd do, but - he didn't seem to go for that," Dean told her. "He... I dunno. I don't know if he realised that he'd fucked up, or that he was being unreasonable, or... I offered Oz. Hell, in the first place I said that maybe Oz would be better anyhow, but... He just kept going over how I should do it and... I don't want to cause trouble over some possible issue with some girl I don't even know, y'know? With something I might not actually even be able to do! I don't know if I can teach - I can shoot, but... I don't know. It's just aim and fire, y'know? And you've seen me with girls and - I'm probably the world's worst teacher and she'd be better off with Oz anyhow and... I'm with you. Only you. And I don't want to deal with any girl who can't see that, or doesn't care about that," he told her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close.

She smiled a little as he pulled her in and she hugged her arms around his. "It'll be okay." she told him first, because he did in fact, seem to be freaking out about this on some levels, so she wanted to soothe that. "If he doesn't go for it, and he still insists on things..." she paused, snuggling back to him comfortably. "Would he feel better if we did it as a group thing?" she suggested. "Would you? If I was there, and Caleb could be there too, does he know how? He could probably learn too. Hell while we were at it, maybe we could talk Sophie and Billy into it, because I know I wanted to have a talk with them about learning to be a little more...offensively useful in times of crisis." she said that last bit delicately. "Might take pressure off of the entire thing if we just kind of...did a whole little class of our own. Means no one's alone to develop any weird sideways feelings either way." she said, thinking that the fundamental change in atmosphere of it alone could possibly solve any of that. She smiled again. "I'd of course insist on you being my partner."

Dean paused and then felt for her in the dark, cupping his hand around her chin and pulling her round a little, finding his way to her and kissing her, deeply. It stung at his lip a little, but he could live with that. He'd not been able to kiss her enough recently. "That might work," he told her, pulling back enough to rest his forehead against hers. It covered things on so many levels, so many things they'd discussed. "I love you - you're so smart."

Thia kissed him back, smiling after she did. she missed kissing him too, and was also of the opinion that they hadn't gotten to do enough of that in the past few days. So...she made it count, even if she held back some due to the whole hurt lip thing. When he pulled back and rested his head against hers, she exhaled a soft sound, something that nearly sounded like relief from getting the kiss. "I love you too. And yes, I am the tactics expert...even if 'tactics' include 'how to get around crazy-weird issues that people come up with at random in social situations'." she teased lightly. "There's a reason that you come to me with this stuff. I've got your back." she added, tilting her head a little to brush another kiss over his lips. "Have I mentioned that I've missed getting to kiss you properly?" she asked, voice a little softer than previously.

"Mmm, so do I," Dean agreed, brushing another kiss across her lips, just lightly this time. "Next time I get into a fight over you I promise that I'll try and duck when they aim for my mouth," he added, a touch of humour there as he lifted his head enough to put the cloth back on her forehead, though really, he needed to get up and refresh it. He'd do that in a moment - and he'd get her something for her new headache as well. "And thank you - I just... It just seemed such a crap situation, y'know?"

She hummed softly when he gave her the little kiss, and she was really wishing the headache situation for both of them would go away. But they were stuck with them for now. Still, she'd rather that they both had dealable ones than Dean being stuck with an undealable migraine. "You do that." she said, a soft little smile on her lips, and sweet amusement in her tone. "Not that I mind kissing things better, but still. I like your proper-kisses." she said, leaning her head back against his collarbone again. "And your welcome." she added. "It was a crap situation. People overcomplicate things all the time, I just figured...if what the problem was seeming like stemmed from the situation...you just alter the situation enough that it won't be an issue anymore." Made sense to her. "Things won't be anywhere near weird or remotely romantic if there's a bunch of people around. Then it's much more just...business."

"Hopefully," Dean agreed, extracting himself for a moment and heading into the bathroom. He wet the cloth again, getting it nice and cool once more, and also hunted out some painkillers from the cupboard under his sink and drew a glass of water before going back to her, leaving the light on in the bathroom and the door open a crack - before he'd wanted nothing more than to be in total darkness, but he could stand the light now. All the same, it felt good to be back in their little darkened closet - they'd both missed it so much. Sitting, he offered her the pills and water. "It's just... It bothers me that he thought that in the first place," Dean admitted.

She took the water and pills, swallowing both down, setting the glass off to the side where it wouldn't be in the way. She'd get it later. Then she tugged him back over, because she wanted to get back to snuggling. "Well, it's kind of not a very nice thing to get hit with." she agreed. "I know it's different, but I wasn't happy when Joshua was all jealous. Because...he should have trusted me. And even if he didn't know you, I know you, and he should have trusted my judgement as well. Either way, it's about trust. Does Caleb have trust issues?" she asked.

Dean settled back against the wall and pulled her up onto his lap in response to her tugging: their usual position. He took a moment to settle, and then smiled a little and leaned forward to kiss that spot on the back of her neck he'd always spent so much time fantasising about whenever they'd been here before. Because he could do that now. He threw in a little nuzzle as well, just for good measure. "I s'pose he does. He says he trusts me, but... I dunno. I know this isn't about me-me, what I would and wouldn't do, y'know? But - that almost... That makes it worse. Because he has this thing, and there's nothing I can do about that. So - it's always going to be there, isn't it? I just - I don't know what to do with that." And coming off the back off what else he and Caleb had discussed tonight, well, Dean wondered if that was playing in also. He just felt so very off balance about the entire situation.

Lullaby listened to Dean, relaxing a little more as she held the cloth to her forehead, and enjoyed the nuzzling and kiss. "Things aren't always going to be there necessarily. If it's issues, they can be gotten over. Takes work, but it could happen." she said, tracing her fingers on his arm again. "And even if it's not you-focused, that doesn't mean that it doesn't affect you, or anything. I'd be upset about it too." she was quiet for a few moments. "If we do this, and the situation takes care of itself, you might not have to do anything with it. It could be proven to him that he was being dumb, and everything was in his head in the first place, and he never needed to worry. So, that could actually help him in the long run. Issue taken care of, and you don't have to do much but wait it out."

"Maybe," Dean agreed, sounding slightly doubtful. He wasn't great at just being patient and waiting things out. Especially not these days. "I - I don't think he's certain of her anyway. Well, I know he isn't - he... There was something else," Dean said, because there was. Something that was actually a lot bigger - he felt like he was coming at things backwards, but that had been where they'd started.

She frowned slightly, and tilted her head back, keeping her eyes shut, as she was vaguely trying to decide if the medicine was kicking in, or that was wishful thinking. Probably that second one. "What else is going on?" she asked. "Are you okay?" she added on there, because he'd been in such a bad mood, and if there was something else to pile on, what was it? Granted, he wasn't putting out huge black clouds anymore, but there was still negativity...more than his usual baseline level.

"I'm okay," Dean told her, getting that out first. His headache was still there, but it was dealable, at least. He wondered if he should just stop this until they both felt better, but knew that even suggesting it would be a waste of time now they'd started. She'd never go for it, and starting in the first place hadn't been something he could have opted out of for the same reason. They didn't generally lie to each other, and they wanted to know. That worked both ways. "Did I ever tell you that I've known for a while that there's something about Caleb? But that I didn't know what?"

She had to think about that for a long moment, wracking her brain. "I don't know." she said honestly. "It's not coming to mind right now? but that doesn't mean you didn't tell me." Because with as much as they talked about on a daily basis, it was entirely possible. She would have liked to think that she would remember something like that, but she couldn't be positive. "I don't think you did. But go on. There's something you didn't know about Caleb." she said, focusing in her attention on him on a few different levels. Listening to tone, feeling the energy he was giving off, paying attention to if he held her tighter or not.

"It came up a while ago - that there was something. And he didn't want to say. And I asked him if it was anything I needed to be worried about, and he said no. I so I told him that I trusted him and I didn't need to know. And we kind of left it at that," Dean explained, placing his hands over hers and absently beginning to play with the ring on her finger. "Didn't really even think about it again, until tonight when he'd said it'd come up with Nic and that she'd said she didn't really want to get involved with him until he told her what it was. So - he told me. He said he'd been thinking about it anyway, but I don't know if I wasn't just a trial run or something, so he could sound out how things would go when he tells her? I dunno."

Listening to him, she winced faintly. Though absently she liked him playing with her ring. But that was a side observation. "Ouch." she said. "...sounds like you've got trust issues with him too." she said, voice soft. "If you have to wonder about his intentions there. But maybe there's trust issues on both ends. Especially knowing there was something he wasn't telling you. Since even if it wasn't anything to worry about, that's still...something blatant to have on the table." she said, trying to choose her words carefully. "What did he tell you?" she asked. "If you can say." Because she understood if he couldn't. Dean had his rules. She knew that better than anyone.

"No - I trust him. I would trust him with my life. I just... I didn't need to know. He didn't need to tell me unless he wanted to, and just... Sorry, I - I guess I'm questioning people's motives. I shouldn't do that. He's my friend, I..." Dean caught up with what she'd said and his own brain. "...I should trust him more than that," he finished off, with the tone of someone who's just clued in. "But - he told me that he's not human," Dean said, getting to the point of what, moving off of how he felt about it.

"Dean, you've been through a lot lately, and especially with Andy...you've got reason to be a little wary right now." she told him, voice reassuring. "You know I'll tell you what I think on matters, I just did." she said. "You'll get past it eventually. Don't be hard on yourself." She paused for a moment, taking in that last bit. "I'm not human either. Oz isn't." she said, though they were said lightly, and not as a comparison, or said like it was something Dean needed to consider. She knew he would have already gone there with his thoughts. "He knows that." she added, to more clarify why she was bringing him up. "Why did he wait this long to say he's not?"

"It'd be wrong for me to start questioning all my friends just because of what happened with Andy. It'd be unfair to everyone else. I - You're right. I'll get past it," Dean said with an edge of determination. Starting right now. He just wouldn't allow himself to do it. He'd watch himself and catch himself and stop himself. He felt better for that decision - it solved problems, if he was just going to not do that. He didn't really have to deal with it, he'd taken care of it with putting another rule in place and that was that. Moving on. "And he didn't say because - because his mother was a demon," Dean told her, deciding just to come right out with it.

She couldn't help it. She heard the word 'demon', and her entire frame tensed up, and tensed up immediately and tightly. She stopped breathing for a second. She bit at the inside of her lip, and she had to bite back a fear response. Because of course, she quite clearly remembered being held down by a demon. Cut on her thigh, roughed up a bit, and she couldn't even hurt it, even if she had tried. The only reason she was still there was because it let her go. And who even knew why it had done that. ...and she was thinking of it as an it. Caleb wasn't an It. Caleb was the guy who was Dean's friend, and had come through like no one could believe when they'd needed him. Who'd stitched them both up. And...she really needed to latch onto that. "I---continue?" she asked, forcing herself to say something there.

Dean had been waiting for that, and he was there when she tensed, holding her closer, more securely, all but whispering 'I got you' in her ear. What had happened to her had been high on his list on initial thoughts as well, when he'd first heard. "His father was human, so he's... a bit of both? Half-demon, he called it. He said it wasn't like being a demon - he called them evil, that they have to be or something. And Half-demons don't. They get a choice - they can be what they want, but he has instincts, ways of looking at things, that some people may see kind of weird."

His presence helped, even if she was still internally listing all of the good qualities she knew Caleb had, and how she'd been worried about him when he left after stitching them up. How hey. Dean might be on trial for murder if it hadn't been for him. All the details that played in his favor. Still, it was hard to work past that initial, knee-jerk reaction. Though her question was answered. She knew why he hadn't said anything sooner. "Maybe he should start telling people he's half-human..." she mumbled lightly. "I...okay, so he's just...different?" she asked. "Like Oz? He's got instincts and points of view that are all werewolf-strange."

"Right," Dean agreed. "And, I mean - you keep telling em that the way I look at the world - that nobody else sees it that way. And I'm... I have abilities, but I'm human, so... I know Caleb. I trust him." But there were limits with that now, he realised. Right now there were, anyhow. He felt in his pocket and pulled out the key to the other house, holding it up so it was visible in the small amount of light filtering in through the gap in the bathroom door. "...But I didn't give him the key," he said, a little sadly. He trusted Caleb, but he couldn't extend that to everyone else right now.

She looked at the key where Dean held it in the light, the light versus shadow of it kind of hurting her eyes a little, but she still looked. She heard the note in his voice too, that touch of sadness. "Maybe you can someday." she said. "He was there for us. When we needed someone most, he showed up, took care of...kinda everything. I don't think he even asked questions." she continued, kind of saying it for both of their benefits at the moment. so they could both hear it out loud. She was quiet for a moment, before she asked a question. "Does it bother you that I'm not human?" she asked. "Do you even think of me like that ever, or is it a technicality?" Her tone was curious. Thoughtful.

"He didn't ask questions," Dean told her. "He still hasn't, really. Though - I've told him a lot of stuff. We'd... discussed things before," he added, cautiously. He didn't really want to come out and blatantly say that he'd sat down with Caleb and discussed the practicalites of first degree murder with him. She knew some of that, but yeah. It made him think back to the thought he'd had with Caleb this evening - that at least Caleb had an excuse. But then, Dean had come to the conclusion he couldn't go through with it, hadn't he? He tucked the key back into his pocket. "I think, if it was just me, I would have gone ahead with it. But it's not - that key's to the house and that involves you, and Sophie and Oz. I couldn't ask you to rely on my judgement that much." Not when it was so obviously flawed. Andy had been his best friend for so long - no, his judgement shouldn't be relied upon.

Dean lowered his head, resting it against her hair, the soft strands tickling the end of his nose as he inhaled. "You're you. Oz is Oz. Caleb's Caleb. You are who you are. I don't think about the rest overly much," he admitted to her.

She was back to petting his arm lightly as they sat there, eyes falling shut again. It helped with the brainache. "I remember you discussed things." she said. She remembered them walking along the beach, and her adamantly being against the idea. She remembered holding him and telling him in no uncertain terms a flat no. "I trust your judgment." she said. "And...if anything ever happened like what did when we were in England...next time I'm going to say so right away." she said, mind going to the same place. "And I expect you to do the same for me. If you think that my judgment on something isn't sound, let me know." she said, really meaning that. She was quiet again for a few, thinking about what he said with the last bit. "It bothered me." she said. "Like...what you can do bothers you on a really deep level. I know that when I really sit there and think about it, when I think about not being human anymore, at all...it bothers me. Caleb, even being a half demon, he's more human than I am."

"I think he'd disagree with you on that," Dean told her, easing her slightly so that she was leaning more on the other side of his body as his bruises began to complain at the constant pressure. "You said bothered - does it not bother you anymore?" he asked her, catching the phrasing there. He hoped it didn't - it would be good if it didn't. He knew what that was like and she was right - what he could do hit him deeply and he figured it always would.

She shifted when he moved her, apologizing with a soft murmur, hugging his arm around her a little better and wondering if they shouldn't lie down. "It still bothers me. But it's kind of...it's wrapped up in a lot of things." she said. "Like...I don't like the idea that I'm a thing, but I know people could see me like that and they wouldn't be wrong. I don't like the idea that I'm not really here. That I've got a form, but it's not...It's me, but--" she broke off there because she didn't know how to describe it properly. "Sometimes it still feels, really deep down, like I'm not real. And I know that's stupid. I'm aware just how completely flawed that idea is. But sometimes it's there."

Dean stilled her apology with a soft 'shh' as he got them comfortable again. "Anyone who wants to try seeing you as a 'thing' can come and try and explain that to me," he told her, stubbornly defensive about that. "You're a person - just like I am. I think people get too hung up on 'human'. It's like... Caleb told me that he didn't know much about half-demons. That there wasn't, like, books and them and stuff. Because each one was different. And you - you're the same person you were before. And, okay, you've changed - but that's been as a result of what you've been through. Not what you are. And as for real - what... I don't know what makes someone real in the first place. If you're not real then - maybe I'm not either."

She smiled a little at the first bit. Yes, she could imagine Dean not taking very kindly to anyone who referred to her as a thing. Just with the way he got, how he'd been when Gabe had reacted badly to her, everything she'd seen when they were in England...she kind of imagined anyone trying that out wouldn't be having a good day for very long. He'd have a lot to say on the matter. "You're real." she said first. "I can feel you." she hugged his arms around her tigher for a moment. "My idea just comes in with the whole...body that's kinda sorta not here, or doesn't have living systems, or...it's kind of a mess in my head. And like I said. I know it's stupid. And invalid as far as ideas go and there's huge holes in the logic. Most of the time I don't think about it." Though it had gotten stirred up when she'd spoken to his mom. God, did she ever not want to think about that right now. "...you know I think I needed to hear that." she said thoughtfully, softly, after a moment. "that I've changed, but not because of what I am but what I've been through." It was so simple, but...said a lot. "You really think that?"

Dean held her tighter when she did that. "I can feel you too," he reminded her. "Even when we're here, in the dark. When I know that I might not be able to see you - I can always feel you. You're always there. And yes, I really think that. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't," he added, a touch of admonishment in his tone, but only a touch. She should know him better than that. She did, but he knew they were touching on her insecurities, so he forgave her wihtout a second thought.

She smiled at that little admonishment, a soft little exhale of amusement and appreciation for it. "I know." she said. "I just...for a long time there I really just considered myself dead. Like...me who you knew before wasn't here anymore." she said. "I just wasn't her, or I didn't feel like her. But I like the way you say it better." His way felt less...awful. Hell it felt less unnatural, which was what bothered her about a lot of that. Like she was unnatural. An again her issues from talking to Dean's mom popped up. That she'd buried before, because she couldn't drop those on him in the middle of everything, but which hadn't really gone away.

"You're still her. You're still the girl I knew when she was alive. I think - I think I would have had real trouble if you weren't. If you weren't that same person, at your core. Inside. If you weren't my Thia. Which... I know you never were, not back then, but... I always wanted you to be," he admitted to her.

She was quiet for a moment, then she shifted a little, reaching up to turn his face towards hers, so she could brush a kiss over his lips. "I like how that sounds." she said, voice soft. "Being yours." 'My Thia' had a ring to it when she heard him say it. She really, really liked it, even if she didn't know how to express it so he'd know that. "And I was partially at least. I was your best friend. You were mine." Then she paused. "You're still my best friend." Even if their relationship had moved up in the world and all, there was still that foundation to it. "...but I really like the sound of that." she added again, mind drifting back over it. How it sounded to hear him say it at all. Even just in reference to something else.

Dean smiled a little, with an added twitch of amusement as he thought of the collar that she'd been insistent upon. "You are," he agreed. "And you're still my best friend as well. My only best friend. You always will be." She always would be, but he managed not to put that emphasis in his vocalisation.

She nuzzled at his neck a little while she was there, wanting to give him more kisses, but she didn't want to hurt his lip so she managed not to. But okay she kissed his neck. "You'll always be mine, too." she said, believing that. One thing she realized in that moment was that she'd really left behind the idea that he was going to bail on her. She hadn't kicked the idea that maybe he should one day, but she was on steadier ground in her belief that he would be there if he had a choice in the matter.

Dean didn't reply to that, though the words made him feel warm, loved, in whatever way possible, and he wondered how he got so lucky as he closed his eyes for a moment and just felt her there, with him. It was a moment of peace, and there hadn't been enough of them lately. And, more than that, this felt so right - being here, alone. This place, as a weird and off the wall as two people sitting in the bottom of a closet, amongst blankets and shoes and boxes of lego, with everything smelling a little of washing powder and leather, it just felt right. "It's good to be back," he told her. "Everything's already going... But yeah, I... Y'know..." he managed, unable to really explain any of that. It felt good to be back, but things were already getting complicated, so was it wrong that it felt like that?

She smiled, remaining in close. "I know I'm glad to be back. I feel..." she paused, trying to find the words. "Less tense? Like we can talk?" she suggested. "And I know, things aren't perfect, but...I don't know. Being back here, with you..." she laughed a soft bit. "In your closet." she added in. "I just feel better. Flat out, silly as it may sound, It makes me relax more. I feel safe here. I feel...I feel like we have privacy here. I feel less like I have to impress people...I feel less judged in general. I just...this is nice." she said, still slowly nuzzling at his neck. She wasn't pushing it to mean anything more than what it was, just something kind of nice for the moment.

"It doesn't sound silly - not to me. I know what you mean," Dean told her, then paused and frowned a little in the semi-darkness. "You felt judged?" he asked her, quizzically.

"Not..." she paused, immediately going to refute things, but then she caught herself. She'd been telling herself that she needed to stop holding things back. And while she knew she still had the idea to in the back of her head, it wasn't right to continue. She couldn't keep that up. It wasn't right. So, she amended her statement. "I was brought home to meet your family and your friends. Of course I did." she said. "Not really in a bad way, but...with your parents I needed to make sure that they didn't think their beloved son was dating some kind of a monster." Which I don't think I managed with your mom. "With your friends, I just...wanted to get along with them. I guess impress them if possible. But, c'mon, you don't think that when you weren't looking, your buddies weren't casting glances over at me and talking amongst themselves?" she asked. "'Course they were. People always want to know what kind of a person people they care about bring into their lives. It's just natural. I just...had a whole lot of it all at once. And it wasn't a bad thing for the most part. It just feels relieving for it to be over."

Dean didn't particularly want to say what he thought his 'buddies' were doing with regards to her when he wasn't looking. or whether or not they cared about him. At least, that was the stab of bad reaction he got initially, before he told himself to drop it, let it go - that he shoudln't tar everyone with Andy's brush. But, he hadn't asked Stu anything about what was happening back home with the group, and he doubted he would. He hadn't talked to any of them since he'd left Stu's house the morning after the Halloween party. He'd hardly even said goodbye - he'd sent Stu a text to say that they were going, and that was it. "Well, we're back now. And we don't have to go there again," he told her.

She leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment, feeling him breathing. "Can I--" she started, stopping herself again, before she started over. "Can I talk to you about something without you getting mad, or twitchy?" she asked, knowing that was never a good way to start out a conversation. And she winced at herself for doing it. "Sorry." she apologized. "I know that sucks as a way to open into something."

Dean stilled and considered that. If she had to ask that, then it meant that whatever it was she wanted to talk about was going to be something that would make him twitch. or she would have just gone straight into it. "I... can try," he said, very cautiously. That was about as good as he could offer. "What's wrong?" he added, again, with utter caution.

"Did your mom talk to you about me?" she asked. Because if she'd discussed it with him while she hadn't been around, or...something, then that would help out a bit. But if she hadn't voiced any of her concerns to Dean, and had only voiced them to her, then...that was going to make things more complicated. And if she knew Dean, she thought he might note that as well. Think maybe if his mom had something to say about their relationship, maybe she should have talked to him about it.

"Mum?" Dean asked, thrown by that. "Erm, no? Not really. I mean, we talked a couple of times about fades and stuff, is that what you mean?" But those had been general conversations, albeit related to Thia because she was the only fade either of them knew. And Dean had spent most of the time trying to spin out every positive angle he could, steering his mother away from anything that could at all be considered edging towards the least bit negative.

Internally, Lullaby winced. Yeah, she hadn't thought so. She'd kinda hoped, but didn't think Dean would have hid that so well. Not like apparently she had. "Kind of." she said. "When I talked to her, she kind of brought up...concerns." she said. and she didn't stop there, because she was sure he was just going to ask her what kind of concerns, so she didn't drag out the agony for him. "She kinda...asked me if I really thought that we had a future. ...stuff like that. Like if I'd thought at all about my non-ageing thing, and just...I don't know. It was...a whole lot to be kinda hit up with." she admitted. Because not only had it made her flail because she was just getting used to being his girlfriend, but it had made her feel unsuitable. It had made her feel like she shouldn't expect a future with anyone, because of what she was. It had...well, there were issues. "Y'know, specially when I just wanted to see baby pictures of you."

"Mum asked you that? But... We''ve only just started going out!" Dean protested. Future? The fuck? He hadn't even thought about that in any terms, about anyone. not even theoretically. Even aside from the fact she wasn't going to age at all.

"...that's more or less what I said." she admitted. "But, she wanted to know if I've thought about it, or if you had, or...I don't know." she sighed, and reached up to rub her temple a little. "I kind of--it made me feel like she kind of...thought that...I don't know. The question really caught me off guard. and the way she asked it, made me feel like...like maybe she thought I didn't really have a future with anyone. Not just you, but just...because of what I am, maybe..." She drew in a breath and let it out. "That's actually why Billy came to see me in my dreams. I asked him to stop by, so I could talk to him about it. It just...kinda didn't end so well."

The way she put that, that it made her feel like she'd been told that maybe she didn't have a future with anyone, Dean actually found easier to deal with - though he felt guilt about that fact. Sure, he was head over heels for the girl, but he hadn't ever thought about that in a long term sense. He was sixteen - the idea of a long term relationship scared the shit out of him just on principle. It was nothing personal to Thia at all. So when she broadened it out to generalities, whilst he recognised that made it worse for her, he felt the impending panic attack at maybe having to discuss The Future of Their Relationship ebb away. "You talked to Billy about it? You - you could have talked to me..." Dean said, covering feelings of guilt with a light sprinkling of feelings of rejection, a reaction to his internal over-reaction.

"I didn't want to put you into that position." she said. "Plus, you were still dealing with everything else, I didn't want to add anything else on top of it." she explained. "That, and...I love you, and I want to be with you, I have no plans on leaving you, but I'm happy right now. And I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm your girlfriend. I don't...I'm not really ready to start discussing anything future-wise. With everything else we have to deal with? I'm just...I'm happy. Just how things are, I'm happy. I'm still dealing with the idea that I'm going to be sixteen forever, I really don't want you to be jumping the gun to deal with it too, especially when it's not even relevant yet, and..." she exhaled softly, and tried to relax, but tension sang through her regardless. "I also didn't know how you would react, and I didn't want to either stress you out, have you think about it and decide, oh, shit, you hadn't thought about that and now that you did...and I didn't know how you'd feel about your mom hitting me up with that either, and I just thought...it'd be best if I just dealt with it and got on with it." She brushed her thumb over the back of his hand. "I asked Billy because if anyone would understand the situation, he would, just from the other end. Before Maddie got turned loose on our plane, he was prepared to spend his whole life with a girl who'd died a long time ago, and wasn't ever going to look older than eighteen. I figured some perspective would help. And I just...wanted to know if he thought I deserved to have a future that wasn't just...alone."

So why tell me now? Dean thought, wondering what had pushed her to change her mind on that. He didn't ask that though, swallowing the question and asking another one instead. "What did Billy say?" He wondered if the guy had had a chance to say anything - he knew the dream she was talking about. He knew how that had ended.

"He said of course I did." she said. "And some other things, but that was the main message. That I was being silly to think otherwise." It just hadn't sounded so silly when it was coming from Dean's mom. It had hurt when it came from that source. And just kicked up all sorts of insecurities that she was still dealing with. One she'd thought she'd laid to rest already, but apparently hadn't. Or, they were just easy to prod at again.

"What do you think?" Dean asked her, wanting to be supportive and there for her, without really getting into a Them conversation. Though, she'd already said it, hadn't she? She was right where he was - not ready to discuss anything like that at all yet. And he was grateful for that, he really appreciated that. It meant he didn't have to be scared shitless. He liked where they were at, he was enjoying this, he didn't want it to end - either way, he wasn't ready to move from where they were. But, he didn't want her stressed or unhappy either.

She was silent on that for a few long minutes. She was trying to read his tone, wondered how he was feeling on it all. Wondering if she should have kept it buried, but...she was trying not to do that. And she felt the need to ask. "Should I have just...kept this to myself?" she asked. She knew it meant she hadn't answered the question, but she would need to know the answer before she could do that. And she didn't, really.

"No," Dean told her. "No - if it's bothering you, then I want to know." That was how they worked, after all. "I just... You just got through saying all the reasons why you didn't want to tell me, but you've told me and... I guess I'm a little confused why you did when you have this list of reasons why you didn't. Not that - I mean, not that I think you shouldn't and I'm glad you did and I don't want there to be things we can't talk about and everything, I just... And I just - I mean, I'm at that place too where, the whole future thing and I I love you and everything the same and I know and that it it's just..." Oh god, he'd gone into panicked babbly mode. Dean shut his mouth quickly, stopping himself mid-stream. "Sorry," he apologised, feeling bad.

"You've gotten better since then, and we're no longer there so you can't just...go downstairs and confront your mom about making me feel like I shouldn't matter." she said. "We're here now, where...we don't do the hiding thing, or the repressing thing...not this stuff, and just...it still bothers me. I can't even really describe how it makes me feel, and I had all of those fears anyways, but she talked to me like I never would have considered any of that, and I just..." she stopped herself. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to freak you out either. I just...sorry." she said, shifting slightly, back from him.

Dean felt her start to move away and pulled her back, not hard, not enough that he'd stop her if she was going-going, but enough to let her know that he didn't want her to. "She shouldn't have made you feel like you don't matter. You do matter. Especially to me. And if it bothers you, I want to know - and you still haven't told me what you think," Dean reminded her, forcing himself to speak slower and more calmly so he didn't start babbling again.

She didn't try to pull away again, having started to move away because she knew he was quietly freaking. And she didn't want to overwhelm him, especially since she knew how she'd felt when dealing with it the first time, and it hadn't been nice. There was that kind of knee jerk reaction of 'hello, I'm sixteen, please don't make me try to decide the entire rest of my damn life right now' because that was scary in the first place. And while no, she didn't have any plans to leave Dean, that didn't mean she was fantasizing about their wedding. They tended to get attacked on average, at least, once a month so far, she would much rather play everything by ear until either the weirdness took a damn break, or they were, say, in their twenties somewhere. But she didn't think the weirdness was randomly going to slow down or stop, and their twenties? Long ways off. Long ways. She'd like to get through the rest of the year, thanks. That was much more pressing an issue than 'so what happens when he's forty'. She was quiet for a good few minutes before she spoke again. "I thought I was over all this? but it's kinda like she took all my issues and dredged them back up. I don't know. I don't know what I think. I used to think that it'd be better for you, if you bailed at some point, and went and found yourself y'know. A normal girl. But after seeing what happened in England and everything too that kind of...I don't know. It's a lot to process. Because there were normal girls there, and you said it yourself, you didn't...things didn't fit for you. and they didn't know you, even if they've known you for years. So maybe some nice, normal girl isn't what you need. And also--it's not anyone's place to decide that but you, and it's not like you're being asked to. And it's not like it's really a pressing sort of thing either, because of the whole sixteen of it all in the first place, and--" she broke off. "I'm sorry. Issues. I just...thought they were done and apparently not."

Dean was aware that whilst she talked about the dredging of her issues, most of what she'd brought up there was directly about him. "Right now," he told her, after a moment or two. "You're what I need. But, that's me - tell me about your issues," he encouraged, instead of going full on 'don't make this all about me, Thia', which could be counterproductive. His instincts usually were - which was why he overrode them so often. Or, at least, that's how he saw it.

"We've talked about them before." she said. "At least, to some extent." she smiled weakly. "You would get a little twitchy with me with them." she said. "And I've talked to Billy about things. I don't know. I just...it's just difficult to wrap my head around at the best of times, it's really hard when you're suddenly faced with someone who's trying to look out for their kid's best interests, and it's kinda obvious that they think that isn't in any way shape or form you. I know she didn't mean it personally, but...hard not to take it that way." she said. "So, just...issues. Feeling like I don't have a future at all. Or that anyone I attach myself to will have to leave me someday. Or I'll have to leave them. Or if I keep thinking forward, we get to this overwhelming, absolutely fucking horrifying place where I know one day I'm going to have to face the fact that everyone I know now is going to die. And I'm not because I can't." Her voice got tighter there, and she curled up more. "God I don't want to think about that." she whispered. "Can we---" not? she drew in an unsteady breath. "God, how could she ever think that this shit just never crossed my mind ever? This is my life, this is my whole existence. It's not like I died then just went on like nothing happened."

Dean hooked his arm under her knees and cradled her into his lap, balling her up, his other arm round her back as he rested her head on his chest "We can... whatever you like," Dean told her, not knowing where she was going with that, but agreeing to it anyway. "And I'll try not to get twitchy - I promise I will. Whatever you need, kitten - really," he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice, reacting to her misery, which was almost as bad as her crying. No, he decided, it was nowhere near as bad as her crying - if she was crying right now, he knew, he'd be throwing himself at her feet and promising to never leave her and be with her for all eternity, whatever that took, just to make her stop. he wasn't good with tears.

She curled up against him and drew in steady breaths until she felt calmer. "I'm really sorry." she said. "I didn't mean to get all..." she made a vague gesture, then rested her hand against his chest, over his heart. "And if you ask me, if there's anything you've got nothing but a huge right to be twitchy over, it's this." she added. "I'm twitchy about it." she said. Then she shut her eyes. "I just...want to be sixteen. And your girlfriend. And that's it." she continued. "Can we do that? Can we just...not think about that? Not til...much, much later?" she asked. "I'm happy here. I like here."

Dean smiled, relaxing slightly. That he could do. God, could he do that! "Yes, we can do that. I think that's probably the easiest thing in the world to do right now. And I like here too. Oh, only... We need to come up with a story. Or something. Caleb was asking - what I'm going to tell people, about you," he said, hesitatingly raising the subject, though they'd touched on it before. It was more pressing now though, even though the timing could be better. "I told him that I was a moody git who point-blank refused to double date, but that I was dating a wonderful girl from around here, but not Marquette itself, and she'd already graduated, but wasn't going to college. And I told him to be vague about the rest til we'd had a chance to talk about it." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, wishing he could kiss her properly, but that would mean moving and he didn't want to. "And I want to be able to talk about you."

Some of the tension she'd been holding in her frame eased when he answered her, really just at the word 'yes', she started relaxing. Good. Okay. She could deal much better with that. That they were on the same page, and no one was going to be making her face down her desolate fucking future any time soon. Thank all that was holy. Her future terrified her. Because she couldn't just think of twenty years down the road. Her mind automatically stretched another twenty. And forty. fifty. Beyond. It stretched out in front of her like a path in a dream, one that never ended, where you were never any closer to the end, and you couldn't turn back. You just had to keep going. So the more she could concentrate on the here and now? The better. She brushed her thumb back and forth on his chest, feeling him breathing as she curled against him. a light smile touched her lips when he said the last bit. "I want you to be able to talk about me too." she said. "I like the idea of you saying you're taken." she added. "Even if you can't...take me around to meet people, or...or anything like that. I like the idea of you..." yeah. "I could be from Big Bay." she said. "The road out to Billy's old place, that goes out to Big Bay. Which is smaller than here anyways. There's a community college there. You could say I was going to Bay de Noc, that I commuted and such, and that's why I'm not around to do things like go to the movies with people." Then she laughed a touch. "You can be the envy of everyone, say you landed a college girl."

Dean grinned. "That was part of the plan, yeah. My little older woman," he teased. He'd considered that aspect of things, and he had to admit it was appealing - even if he knew she was his age. "And I can do that - and hey, I'm crap with names so when I forget what those places are called, nobody will be surprised! We still saying you're living with us? Or are you supposedly living up there, and just coming here to see me and the distance is why you stay over a lot? And - how did we meet? During the summer...?" He left lots of gaps so they could fill them in together. Another little story they made up.

She laughed a touch, smiling. "Yep. that's me. Your older woman, your corrupting force." she said. "I'm all nineteen and worldly." she added, amused. She was also kind of appreciating getting to come up with the story. "mmm. I have a dorm there. But I don't like my room mate, and I really like you, so I stay here a lot. Even have my own room, for propriety's sake, even if we ignore the hell out of that." she said, tilting her head towards his neck again to nuzzle under his jaw. "I can't do my homework very well with the lame loud party girl that is my roomie. Janene, her name will be. Janene the piercing laden dramaqueen who's failing all of her classes anyways." she added, because details. Those were the fun bits. "Okay, how did we meet?" she asked. "Did you see me somewhere?"

"And Janene hates me," Dean told her, filling in some bits there as well. "She's hated me from the get-go, because she smokes and I told her it was a fucking horrible habit when she lit up in the middle of your room. And she knows she's not allowed in to smoke in the dorm room, but she does it anyway, so she and I end up bitching whenever we meet, so I refuse to go to your room at all these days - it just causes trouble. And we met.... On the island. Windy day, you know," he told her, picking details from their last story. "I was new in town and alone. You came and talked to me first," he supplied, before stopping so she could pick up.

She giggled softly at his description of how he and Janene didn't get along. "You know I'd never pick her over you, honey." she said, kissing his neck lightly. "And I came to talk to you because you were just...well, look at you. You were cute. Cutest guy I've seen in ages, and you didn't look like a drunken frat boy, so hey. All the better. And you were very very sweet, so I found reasons to stick around and keep talking to you. Like asking for an escort around the island, since I might not know the trails that well, being from Big Bay."

"And then, of course, I had to admit that I'd only been in town a couple of days - and that I'd actually got lost just finding this place. Which isn't something a guy likes to admit to a cute girl. So I tried to suggest that you'd probably be better off finding someone else to show you around - though I really didn't want anyone else showing you around. But, I didn't tell you that. And anyway, I figured you'd have a boyfriend, so you wouldn't want me for anything else now, would you?" Dean pointed out, developing it further. After all, they had just started going out and Dean didn't want to lose that. He didn't want to skip over the newness of it all.

"I decided that if you were lost, and I was about to get lost, we might as well get lost together, right?" she said, continuing it on. "So, I kind half drag you up the path behind the gazeebo so we can walk through the woods." she said. "Where we get to know each other a little better. Like your name is Dean, my name is Thia, you're really not from around here..."

"You know, to this day I don't know why I didn't ask you out there and then - except, well, you were in college - that's intimidating for a guy. But you were really the first person I got to know here - you monopolised my summer. Or, well, the end of it anyway. The first time you got to see my bad side was the day Janene showed up - you only began sharing with her this semester. So, first day, first argument between me and her," Dean suggested.

"Which was massively surprising, because you're you, and most of the time you are a very sweet tempered boy." she said. "And I might have tried to break it up? But then I started getting shit for hanging out with a sixteen year old in the first place. And I had to go make a comment about how you were more mature than her, and it kind of went downhill from there, really." Lullaby said. "All name calling and growling a bunch, until we stormed out of there."

Dean poked her lightly in the side. "Hey - less of the 'boy'," he admonished. "Just because you're a cradle snatcher... I wanted you to put in for a room transfer, because I didn't like the idea of you living with that bitch," he tld her, his tone serious as they got more embrolied in the details of their story.

She giggled and squirmed slightly, but really only squirmed closer to him. "And after a little back and forth about that, I finally did--and was denied, because there weren't rooms available, and it was already too late in the year to do that." she said. "So I was stuck with this bitchy room mate, who didn't like my ...special friend, and that wasn't at all okay with me, and she started stealing my stuff, and ruining others. And she totally ate all of my food when I stayed too late here one night. Or just stole it, who knows. I think she was just high and got the munchies and ate it all."

"...Which was when I insisted you started keeping the stuff that meant anything to you at my house. And that led to you having a room, because of that one time when we'd been watching movies and I drove you home and she just laid into you about something completely fucking pointless and irrelveant - I can't even remember what it was now, but the room stank of pot and smoke and I just marched you back the hell out of there and took you home. I tried to get you to move in, but..." He trailed off, wanting her to fill in her own excuse why she'd turned down the demand when he'd made it in his storybook protector rant.

She hummed thoughtfully as she came up with the reason why. "Well I don't want to be intruding, and possibly just a little I liked the idea, but I mean, I'm nineteen, you're sixteen, part of me was still wondering if I was just being really really silly by crushing on you in the first place, and I'd already done the math that I really only was just barely nineteen. So it sounded much worse than it actually was, right? And sure, most high school guys are immature little brats but you aren't--I might owe that to you being all British and stuff. But still, I wasn't sure, and while I thought it was really sweet of you--and I was a little turned on by you being all protective like that, and passionate about it--I decided that I couldn't quite do that. Maybe next semester. Especially since Oz and Sophie seem to like me just fine..."

"See, that was another thing that gave me pause. Because I really, really fancied you, but... You're the same age as my guardians. And part of me was wondering if everyone would think it really weird if I went for you. I always had this long list of reasons why I shouldn't - but, really, deep down, I was just afraid of you turning me down," he confessed, loosening his hold on her just a little as he realised he was still holding her crushably-close, and she might be uncomfortable. "But, the offer of you moving in wasn't made for that reason - I really don't like your roommate, so I kept on at you until you agreed. And anyway, whether you liked it or not, I dubbed the room next to mine your room."

She shifted when he let her go, turning on his lap to face him, arms sliding up around his neck. She rubbed lightly at the back of his neck, running her fingertips along the chain of his necklace. "Annnnnd I started to stay more often, and we started to get closer..." she supplied. "And there was this one night, where we went out on the roof, to look at all the stars, because I couldn't believe that you hadn't actually taken the time to do that, you silly thing." she said, borrowing another detail from their time together.

"I'm not good at stopping and taking time to appreciate world around me," Dean agreed, shifting her ever so slightly, bringing her knees down to either side of his hips as they wove truth into their story. "You have to tell me to do that. I still haven't really seen deer," he reminded her. "So - you surprised me. Set it all up and waited for me to get home, then you took me out onto the roof where you'd set up a blanket and everything. And all I could think were very not-friends thoughts about lying on a blanket with you, looking up at the stars. Which, really, like that - I'm afraid that I thought there were better things to look at that night."

She smiled, and leaned closer, resting her forehead against his for a moment. That, before she started giving him little tiny brushes of kisses all over, careful of where the bruises were, where the cut was on his cheek. But she was kissing everything better in her mind so she made sure she did kiss them. Just...very very gently. "I'm good at appreciating the little things. I'm from Big Bay. there's nothing to do there but appreciate the little things, if you can't master that you perish of boredom." she said, in between kisses. "And it was just possible that I've already seen the stars a million times, and was caught looking over at you more than once. Because you are very easy on the eyes." she said, nuzzling his cheek a moment when she emphasized her statement.

He relaxed under her touch, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the wall as she kissed him, appreciating the touches. He liked gentle, he liked being pampered by her. "That was the night I began to think that maybe you might actually be interested in me as more than a friend," Dean said, after a moment or two. "I can be remarkably stupid about these kinds of things." Even in fantasy, Dean lacked the ability to get through it without putting himself down with what he considered to be honesty.

"Well, I wasn't helping matters by wavering back and forth on whether I thought I was being an idiot or not." she told him, because she couldn't not give him an out of some description. She nuzzled at his ear a touch while she was there, before continuing her work. "Well, it was a nice night, the stars were pretty if standard, and I took a chance, and scootched over to you and decided to use you as a pillow. You're comfortable, and smell good. You looked like you would make a good pillow." she explained. "And I told myself that if you weren't okay with your new status as a snuggly object for me, that that would tell me something."

"I was born to be a snuggly object for you," Dean teased. "And I stepped up to the challenge of having a pretty girl hang off me - though it took me a moment or two to get up the guts to follow through and put my arm around you. And I'm fairly sure that if I'd tried to talk right then, I would have sounded like I'd been sucking helium. Though, I don't think you caught on how nervous I was..."

"Oh no, I was far too busy being relieved that you hadn't looked at me and asked me what the fuck I was playing at." Thia said, grinning. She tilted his head lightly, and started giving him little kisses all down the side of his neck, along his throat, back up beneath his jaw. "So I did in fact, miss the fact that you were nervous at all. You seemed fine and confident to me. Strong and silent works, occasionally. And, I might have been pushing it just a little bit, because it was a little cold, but I wasn't that cold...and I snuggled up to you more properly, with the excuse that you were warm."

Dean chuckled slightly, imagining the scene in his head, though a lot of his attention was focused on those little kisses. "I'd stopped looking over at you by then, because I was trying to get my mind to work fast enough to figure out what was going on. And I didn't want to fuck things up with you, but I thought you were almost being a bit of a tease - in a good way, if that's what you meant, but I couldn't work out if that's what you meant, or if you were actually cold. So, for the longest time, I kept looking at the stars, until I couldn't do it any longer, and I looked over at you..."

"And I of course, had been looking at you for some time, watching you work things out in your head. And I didn't look away when you turned to look at me. I probably had a silly little smile on my lips, and tried to sober it, but it didn't work out for me. And I kind of wondered what might happen if I just...grabbed you and kissed you right then. And it was possible, that in tandem with my thoughts going there, my hand curled up to grab the front of your shirt." she said. And she demonstrated that for him.

Dean thought about his headache, about his aching ribs and sore, sore eye, about all the scratches and scrapes and bruises over his body at the moment, his just healing lip, all of it. And then he picked her up, lifting her up enough that he could lay them both down, her hand still curled into his shirt as he repositioned them, one hand around her, his other resting behind his head, propping him up slightly as he looked down at her in the mostly-darkness. "It was the smile that did it - I realised you'd been watching me. But I might have thought you were laughing if you hadn't moved then. I said something forgettable about the stars, but mostly I pulled you up a little more," he told her, doing just that, settling her down near his shoulder, in a highly kissable position.

She thrilled when he moved them, not having quiet expected it. But she was more than happy to go with it. Her headache could be ignored. And by now the pain meds he'd gotten her really had kicked in, it wasn't just her imagination. She tightened her grip on his shirt, liking getting closer. Liking getting to play in general. "I'm sure whatever you said was probably insightful and all, but I was way too distracted to actually be listening. And then I pulled you a little closer." she said, doing that. "And I bit my lower lip." she said, doing that as well, running her tongue over it while she was at it. "And since you didn't actually appear to be pulling back...I decided fuck it, I wanted to kiss you so bad I could practically taste you already... and I kissed you." she said. And she kissed him. She tried very hard to be careful of his lip...even if part of her didn't want to have to, but it was just in her nature. She couldn't get around that just now, definitely not with something she initiated.

Dean wasn't really of a mind to be careful of his lip. If he'd been worried about that, he never would have moved them in the first place, so his answer was an immediate deepening of the kiss, kissing her like he'd never kissed her before, like this was the first time all over again as his arm came down from behind his head to hold her, urging her up and closer to him. He let the kiss linger as long as he could and then broke and looked at her in the darkness. "And, yeah, I was okay with being kissed," he said, belatedly, jokingly.

She felt a rush at that. She somewhere in the back of her mind wondered how he managed it. They'd done a lot of kissing since they'd gotten together, but it still sent shivers down her spine, and little sparks through her system. It gave her that butterflies in the tummy feeling and everything. When he kissed her like that, she couldn't help but kiss him back, making a soft sound as he did so, and another little one that sounded just slightly edged with protest at it being over. She stayed in close, catching her breath a little, hand still fisted in his shirt front. she smiled down at him, a bright little grin. "Annnd I decided that I liked that, and I wanted to do that more. In fact, if I could just sign you up to do that all the time? Say, every time I saw you? That would be good. And I decided that the whole age thing was total bullshit anyways, it was about two people connecting and we had, so that was it. I decided to claim you as my boyfriend. And I was proud of it, thank you very much."

Dean laughed at her little summary. "And they all lived happily ever after - the end," he told her, leaning forward to kiss her on the end of her nose - a curling move that his ribs really didn't like, so he flopped back down again, deciding that lying flat was a much nicer scenario right now.

She felt the little spike of pain through him and reached down to ghost her hand over his side, a light little petting. "Are we going to go to the mine to fix you up before you have to go to school, or are you suffering through all of this til it heals naturally?" she asked him, voice light, soft, as she nuzzled near his ear, kissing his earlobe while she was at it. She didn't sound like she was pushing a decision one way or the other, she was just thinking about it. Which she was. though to be fair, she was half thinking about the cave, and how badly she'd wanted to kiss him then. And the other half of her mind was in the closet with them, and thinking over the many and varied fantasies she'd had about just this small dark space.

"I'm suffering through it until it heals naturally," he told her, firmly. He considered laying out his arguments for his point of view in that regard, but he hoped that she'd just take his decision and leave it there. He couldn't help but remember the last time they were up at the cave, and how things could go very differently now, but! He had to be strong, and stick to his code and not be distracted by his hormones.

She nodded, the motion nuzzling his cheek by his ear. "Okay." she said. But curiosity was something that Lullaby had in spades, so she couldn't not ask. "Can I ask why?" she asked, starting her little tiny-kisses thing again, because she was just...affectionate right now. she was allowed to be after he'd moved them and kissed her like that. Or that's what she told herself anyhow.

Well, that was part of his wish, at least. He'd take that - she wasn't going to try and talk him out of it. Hmm... "I'll tell you as long as you promise that, whatever my reasons, you're not going to argue with me over this," he said, putting that proviso on things - he knew her, after all.

She made a cute little playfully growly sound. "That sounds like you know I'll want to." she pointed out, but she wasn't going to not promise. She reached out and hooked her pinky with his, the one with the ring on, and she brought it to her lips to kiss the ring. "I promise." she told him, keeping hold of his hand there as she waited for whatever reasons he might have. She also braced herself mentally so she could bite back what she was sure were going to be immediate protests on her part.

"Well, firstly - we don't know enough about the spring," Dean told her. "We have no idea about the long term effects of healing springs, or whether what heals you now will come back and harm you later in life and I just think it's a bad idea to over use that. Just in case. Especially when it's just for things that are liveable. And secondly, I need to live through this. I don't want to be the kind of person who's ever okay with throwing themselves into a fight knowing that no matter how fucked up they get, they can just be right as rain tomorrow. I made the choice, I got into that fight and I don't regret any of it. But I need to pay the price for that as well. I - I don't want to risk being the guy that doesn't have to. I don't like the idea of where that road might go," he explained to her.

She listened, honestly thinking over what he said. And, surprisingly, she actually didn't have protests for him on it. "I think that's...very wise of you, Dean." she said honestly. "I think that's responsible, thought provoking, and generally...I can understand that." she told him, her tone betraying that she was, as a matter of fact, impressed. She was. Highly impressed, even. And she smiled, gently turning his face towards hers, where she ghosted her hand over the bruises, and then she kissed him. Her kiss was soft, but she wanted to put feeling into it.

Dean was surprised - he'd braced himself for disagreement, an argument, for her to tell him that he wasn't that kind of person, that he was never going to be that kind of person, that they'd talked about this and he didn't need to worry and she'd never let him fall that far and everything else that came up whenever they touched on that subject. But then she was kissing him, which was an effective distraction and one he went with, keeping the softness she'd started with and drawing it out until he had to break. "...You really think so?" he asked, sounding slightly uncertain about that. He wasn't used to her flat out agreeing with him about anything that had to do with him.

She nodded, nuzzling his nose as she did so since she remained in close. "I really think so." she confirmed. "I think it shows strength of character, and proves that you don't make decisions lightly in the first place. and that you aren't just looking for some easy out. Most people probably would. I know that I don't like seeing you in any pain, but...I support the decision to go through it, because I back up your reasons why. Both not knowing the long term effects of the spring, and not wanting to get complacent about violence." She traced the underside of his jaw. "I just think it's very wise of you. I'm impressed."

Dean smiled a little, though it was still half-confused. She seemed serious about taking his reasons seriously and whilst he'd thought that his reasons were sound, he was so used to having his reasonings on things questioned, for his take on life to be skewed and fucked in some way. "Okay," he said, after a few minutes, accepting that as her answer, enjoying that.

She smiled back at him. "What?" she asked. "You look shocked." she said, sounding lightly amused. "Was I meant to argue with you?" she asked. "Was I meant to shout, or something?" she continued, kissing lightly at the cut on his cheek. she was probably going to need to stop covering him with kisses. "If you're going to be suffering through, does that mean I get to baby you for a long time, however long it takes for you to heal?" she asked, and she probably sounded far too hopeful about that prospect.

"Well - you usually do," Dean pointed out, leaving it at that for now, leaving it about her and not expanding it out to generalities. "And... if you want to. I mean, you're... Kind of good at that kind of thing," he added. He liked it when she looked after him, but, as usual, he refused to ask for it. He wouldn't expect it. He couldn't.

"I'm not contrary to be contrary." she said, reaching up to drift her fingers through his hair. "Just when I feel there's an argument to be had. With this, there is no argument." she said. "So you're all good. And you've even gone and impressed me, and I'm all enamored with you and everything, which I was before anyways, but there's shiny oohs and aahs too for the moment. Which might get you anything you want." she told him, slipping that little line in just to see if he would do anything with it. "And I want to." she told him. "I like taking care of you."

"First time for everything," Dean told her, leaning his head into her hand and wondering whether she was after making him fall asleep. There were worse places to fall asleep - which, actually, reminded him. "I don't want you to go," he told her. "Tonight. Stay." He knew they'd agreed that they were definitely keeping separate rooms, and possibly this was a bad way to start that, but he wanted her here with him tonight.

She smiled at that, pushing herself up on her hands and knees so she could give the other side of his face more kisses and snuggly attentions. "I was really hoping you'd ask me that." she admitted. God it had been on her mind. She wanted them to have separate rooms, it felt weird for them to consider otherwise--that didn't mean she didn't still want to sleep with him. Because she did. She just didn't want to move into his room. She liked her room. But yeah, sleepytime? She really wanted to be with him for.

Dean reached up and almost pulled her down, before he remembered that he was covered in bruises and even as petite a body as Thia landing on him - that would probably hurt like hell. So, instead, he just left it wiht his arms up at her shoulders. "I can't guarantee the jet lag won't have me up at weird times..." he warned her, feeling he should be honest about that. He was likely to be up at weird hours of the morning.

She grinned down at him and leaned her head down to brush a kiss over his lips. "You're talking to the girl who doesn't need to sleep much anyways, and has actually been in England with you this whole time..." she told him. "So, if we happen to be up at four in the morning, or something?" she said, giving him another light, teasing little kiss. "I'm sure we can find something to do." she told him. And it was possible she was just a little suggestive there. Maybe. Kinda. Or a lot, it was a toss up.

Dean raised an eyebrow at that and smirked. "So... remind me to take more painkillers before I try and sleep...." he said, noting the suggestion. He didn't particularly want to wake up all achy when she was going to be like that now, did he?

She laughed a little. "I'll even go get them for you." she told him. "I'll be a good little Nurse Thia." she promised. For having a headache, she was in a pretty good mood. She snuggled against his shoulder some. "Do you want to get some sleep now?" she asked. "You've had kind of a rough day." she added. Plus the aches. And the headache that still lingered, though she was still glad she'd knocked it down from full migraine status. That was just never a good thing.

"I wouldn't mind - it's been a long day." For both of them - they'd been up for the airport at 5am, and that had been UK time, which meant that as far as their bodies were concerned, it was getting towards the early hours of tomorrow morning already. Soon be time for getting up. "Did you get any sleep before I got back?" Dean asked her, knowing he'd got none on the plane - it had been too noisy. The eternal hum of the engines had been at a pitch he simply couldn't shift.

She shook her head. "Not really. I mean, if you don't count my short time of being unconscious, but that wasn't long at all. Then Billy took me back here, and I settled in and everything, but...you know I don't really get much rest without you, or don't get good rest. So I just kind of did busy things around, and talked to everyone for a while, and checked the clock all the damn time because I missed you." she said. "Which I realize is probably silly of me, but...I did." she admitted. She sat up, tugging the blankets around so they could get comfortable. Because so far as she was concerned, they could just sleep right here.

Dean had other ideas as he realised she was getting them comfortable and he got up, pulling her to her feet. "Oh no - we're not sleeping here," he told her, firmly, pulling her in, wrapping his arms around her as he looked down at her. "I want you in my bed. On purpose. All planned and everything." Like they'd never had before, because he wouldn't let it. "And-" he added, brushing a kiss over her lips. "-I was gone for twelve hours. That's a long time."

Charmed, was the word. That was what she felt like as he did all that, and she put her arms up around his neck, beaming up at him. Clearly, she liked everything he'd just done and said. "Twelve hours is a long time." she agreed. It had sure felt long. she understood that was incredibly clingy of her. She stood on her tiptoes, pushing against him slightly. "And your bed. On purpose. All planned and everything." she agreed. "I like that." She really liked that. Her tone articulated it, if the smile didn't, and then she added another kiss that she was careful with--even if she did make it deeper than she generally had been since he got hit.

Dean walked her back towards the closet door through to the bedroom as he returned the kiss, stopping when they reached it, groping slightly with his hand for the handle to crack the door open slightly, enough to reveal a slice throguh to his room, enough to reveal the bed. He turned her round, standing her in front of the door, looking outwards as he stood behind her, bending so he could talk into her ear, dropping his voice to be a whisper she would still hear. "The first time we slept in that bed, when I left you there. I stood here and watched you sleep," he admitted, softly. "You were so beautiful - that's when I decided that you really would make a perfect Snow White."

She stood there, head tilting to the side slightly when he spoke to her, and a little thrill went through her at the words. She remembered waking up with him gone. She remembered coming back and crawling into bed with him in the first place, because she'd left him, and she hadn't wanted to. So when she'd come back...she'd just needed to be there with him. Leaning back against him slightly, she slid her arms back, down his, til she could clasp her hands in his, pulling his arms around her. "You watched me sleep then too, hmm?" she asked. "I'd needed to be back here with you. Couldn't sleep in my room...I needed to be with you." she told him. And part of her really just latched onto and kept hold of the warm feeling she got when he said she was beautiful.

"Whenever I could," Dean told her, slipping his hand under the hem of her shirt to rest against her belly. "I didn't expect to wake up with you, all curled around you. I... Well, you know I didn't actually want to leave." She did now, anyhow. "But - I want to sleep there with you when we both - when we both want that and we know we want that. I just... I want you there," he told her. He didn't even necessarily need it to be any more than just sleeping, he just wanted to spend the night wiht her. In his bed. It was a thing, one which he figured she'd understand.

She hummed softly, liking the way that sounded. "Wish I would have been able to feel that." she mused, voice light, comfortable. "You, curled up with me there. You know I always liked that. Whenever we would fall asleep together...we would curl up, and it was just natural feeling, and comfortable." She tilted her head back a little. "We fit well." she told him. Then she looked back at the bed, sliding her hand over his where it was against her skin, keeping it there. That felt comfortable and natural too. "I want to be there. Invited and everything. Sleeping in your bed." She did understand. Like...she had been vastly disappointed when they'd gotten to his room and she'd discovered that it wasn't his room anymore. That it was just some guest room. She'd wanted to be in his space, sharing it with him but it hadn't been his space any longer, and she missed that feeling. That idea of a place retaining a piece of someone, being theirs. Like her room here was hers. Her room at Billy's was hers. There were personal touches, she existed places, even if she wasn't there at the moment. And Dean existed here. In the back of her mind, she wondered if that had played into his mindframe of not belonging there anymore. He hadn't even had a space in his own home.

He stepped them back, then stepped round in front of her, twisting his hand round to take hers as he led her out of the closet and into the room, over to the bed. "Well, you can feel it tonight - promise," he told her, pulling her down onto the bed, pushing the covers back as he did so.

Lullaby smiled. Yes, she was going to appreciate this. She liked Dean's bed. And sure, most of the time her being on it was because there was something going on, but still. She liked it. She appreciated it. She enjoyed being on his bed, and this...was going to be nice. She paused for just a moment as he pulled her down, taking a moment to get her jeans off quicklike, and she then crawled in with him. "I'll appreciate that." she told him. She would. She loved snuggling with him in general, but she really loved waking up, with him curled in with her even if he was still asleep. It was a good feeling overall.

Dean did the same as she moved, pushing his jeans off and dumping them onto the floor, before sliding under the covers with her, pulling them up and over them. He really was tired, especially with the headaches, and the muscle aches, and the stress of the day. He pushed the pillows around and curled up around her before closing his eyes. "Night, kitten," he whispered into her ear. He wondered if she was going to take out her hearing aids before they went to sleep.

She smiled, and snuggled with him, feeling better. They were home, they could be them again, they had a proper place here. And even knowing that things were probably just going to crash down into crisis again at some point, it still felt better to be home for it. "Night, Dean." she said, sounding happy. She didn't take her hearing aids out. It was a habit she'd gotten into just by location. It didn't even occur to her. But she still sounded happy. Content, and really, she was.