Dean leaned forward, not catching Sam’s glare but worried about Madison’s sudden outburst of worry. He reached a hand across the table to try and say something to her to potentially calm her, if not just to prevent the entire house from exploding. But Sam got to her first. He watched how gentle his brother was with Madison, and couldn’t help but soften his gaze.

When Sam turned back to him, after seemingly handling Madison’s panic easily, Dean raised an eyebrow and barely noticed his brother speaking to him, until he shook himself from his thoughts and shook his head at Sam.

“It’s been years, but I don’t remember her ever reacting that way to a facial expression. I mean, maybe it was because I didn’t laugh fast enough? Is she scared of me, because I went to Hell?”, Dean asked, completely confused by the sudden change in demeanor. He was definitely a different person than he was the last time she held his hand, but his personality hadn’t changed that much, had it?


Madison flinched a bit as Sam’s hands came to hers, taking her food away before holding her hands so gently. She took a deep breath as Sam looked into her eyes, just trying to concentrate on his demeanor, and how unmoved he seemed by Esme leaving. She wrapped her fingers around his, nodding her head slightly, but the light in her eyes didn’t completely fade, only flickering as she stared at him.

She was so afraid Esme was really gone, and with Dean, she didn’t know if she could trust Sam to protect her. Castiel would be her only hope without someone there to calm Dean when he got paranoid and angry, which she had gathered he would do often.

When he leaned in and whispered in her ear, the amber light in her eyes completely faded, as if turning down a dimmer switch and she took another deep breath, nodding, “I believe her too…”

Madison watched Dean as he spoke and she frowned, wondering who Dean was before his trip to Hell. Was he more fun? Was he more understanding, and gentle, like Sam? The questions buzzed around in her head until Sam said that he was getting up, and left to go to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry I scared you, okay?”, Dean apologized honestly, tapping his knuckles on the table in front of him, just as Sam returned with the beers. Dean leaned back in his chair, patting Sam’s arm as he patted his chest, and nodded absentmindedly. He hadn’t tried to do the whole relationship thing in so long that he wasn’t even sure what giving someone space looked like, anymore.

Madison trailed her eyes up to Dean’s face, watching him pick up his beer and take a drink. She sighed, and crossed her arms, waiting patiently for Esme to hopefully walk back through the door.





Madison’s head perked up at the sound of a car door closing, at the same time that Dean’s did. As Esme stepped into the house, Madison’s heart fluttered with excitement, turning to smile widely at Sam as Dean stood from his chair and followed her. Madison reached a hand out and took Sam’s hand, “You were right! Like always, you were right.”

She spoke excitedly, buzzing with excitement that she had everyone back in one place. Well, everyone but Castiel, but he was off doing angel stuff, whatever that was. She let his hand go awkwardly, and pushed her hair behind her ears, shrugging her shoulders, “Sorry I got so scared and almost blasted you. But I can help you with the rest of the stuff in the car!”



Dean’s ears perked up the second that the car door closed, standing from his chair quickly to run to the door. He had held out hope that Esme would definitely be back, but there was still a clenching feeling in his stomach that he could quite swallow down as he waited. He reached for the doorknob, just as Esme stepped through and he gasped at her appearance, following her.

Shooting a glance back at Sam, he silently told him to take care of the rest while he checked on her and followed her into the kitchen. Reaching a hand out, he took the bags from her, and sat them down on the floor beside the refrigerator, taking her hips in both his hands and pushing her back toward the counter.

“What the hell happened? Let me look.”, he asked with slightly widened eyes, the panic evident on his face. She hadn’t been gone long, but he hadn’t been there to protect her from whatever had happened and his stomach ached thinking about someone or something laying hands on her, like the old days.

He reached a hand up and grabbed for the hand that held the bandana to her face, peeling it away, and taking the bandana between his fingers to look at the cut on her face, “Esme. Dammit. What did this? Was it a human? I’ll run back right now. You just tell me where and I’ll give them a nice dental makeover. Are you hurt anywhere else.”

In his panic, he hovered his hands along her torso, glancing around as if he could see through her shirt. It was a mixture of actual worry, guilt, and anger that someone would even do that to her face, much less any other part of her body. He took a deep breath and rested his hand against her uninjured cheek, closing his eyes to calm his nerves as he stood with her, giving her a chance to speak.

Esme smiled softly as she heard and felt Dean follow her into the kitchen and remained when he took the bags from her and placed them on the floor beside the refrigerator. When he took her by the hips and pushed her towards the counter, she looked up into his face. Her smile faded at his words and the panic on his face. When he asked to look, she turned her head slightly as he took her hand and the bandana, wincing a bit as he pulled it from her cheek, her hand dropping to her side as he took the bandana into his fingers. His next words made her wince a little, but smile inwardly at his protectiveness and need to go back and handle everything. She knew she looked rough after her interaction with the bikers, but not that rough. She hadn’t expected this much of a reaction out of him. Sure, she expected him to be worried and upset about the state she came back in, but she hadn’t expected him to feel guilty about it.

Esme tried to get a word in, but it was impossible in his panicked state of mind. So, she remained quiet as he spoke and watched him as he looked at her cheek, then hovered his hands along her torso and looked the rest of her over as if he could see through her shirt. She could feel his mixture of emotions heavily and they were weighing on her. She always hated when he felt like this and it was always hard not to be overwhelmed by them with how strongly he felt things. When Dean took a deep breath and rested his hand on her uninjured cheek, she also took a deep breath as she leaned her cheek into his hand. As he closed his eyes, she brought her hand up and rested it on his in an attempt to help him calm his nerves. She closed her eyes briefly and rubbed his hand with her thumb, then opened her eyes to look up at him and placed her free hand on his bicep, giving it a squeeze.

She stepped closer to Dean, moving her hand from his bicep to his cheek with a gentle ‘shh’ as she ran her thumb along his cheek. Esme then pulled his face down to hers to rest his forehead on hers. “Breathe.” she whispered warmly to him. “I’m alright. You’ve seen me in worse shape than this before.” She closed her eyes and took in a breath, slowly letting it out through her nose. “It was just a couple of leather-clad asshats. Apparently, they thought I was going to be an easy target. When I refused their advances and fought back, they got a little rough.” she told him. “When I drew my gun and told them I’d shoot something off they may need later, they called me a psycho bitch and ran off.” She gave a little laugh, quickly regretting it as pain shot through her stomach and ribs, making her wince. “I have to admit, the temptation to shoot their asses was strong.”

She held back the laugh that threatened to show itself at her comment and softly sighed. The temptation to shoot them was real, but knew that it would have done nothing to improve their stupidity, but hoped that having a gun pulled on them would make them think twice about attacking another woman. “My other injuries are just bruises here and there, I think. Nothing a little ice and a good soak in a bath later can’t cure.” she spoke warmly with a small smile as she opened her eyes and softly nuzzled his nose with hers. As far as she knew, her back, stomach, and ribs were just bruised from everything. Her ribs didn’t feel broken, just a little tender from being kicked so hard, then again, you couldn’t be too sure when it came to ribs. Tilting her head a bit, her lips met his in a sweet kiss as she closed her eyes. Pulling back a bit, she looked into his eyes. “I look worse than I feel. Please don’t let your anger, guilt, and worry get the best of you.” she whispered softly against his lips. Esme then took Dean's face into her hands, holding his face just far enough away to see her face, and she smiled warmly. "Really, I'm alright. Just promise me you'll stay here and not do anything stupid like going off after those two. Okay?" She then tilted his head down to place a kiss on his forehead, then tilted it again to kiss his nose, cheeks, and finally his lips all in an attempt to get him to calm down and listen to her.



Before Esme’s return, Sam had to think about his brother’s answers and questions in response to his own question. He could hear the confusion in his brother’s tone and it made him choose his words carefully. “Maybe they bothered her but didn’t affect her then like they do now.” he started. “Perhaps all her time hunting alone has made her act to and see things differently.” He fell quiet for a moment, watching Dean as he thought about what else he had said about not laughing fast enough and Esme being afraid of him, causing a soft sigh to escape him. “No, I don’t think she is afraid of you because you went to Hell. If she was, she wouldn’t have gone off with you for a drink and to catch up or come here to help us with Madison.” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. He fell quiet again, thinking about his next words as he continued to look over at Dean. “The way I see it, you have both changed in many ways from your time apart. It’s going to take some time and patients to learn what those ways are and work your way through them.” he told his brother. “Just her coming back shows she wants to be here with you.”

After Esme’s return, Sam couldn't help but notice how Dean and Madison perked up when they heard Esme’s car door close. It had brought a smile to his face. He could also see how disheveled she looked when she came through the door but didn’t react as to not get a rise out of Dean or Madison, even though he was concerned for the woman and wondered what had happened while she was out for the short time. It wasn’t hard to miss his brother's reaction to her appearance and see the worry on his face for her. Madison’s words of excitement and her taking his hand pulled his attention from the two, and he smiled warmly at her with a small chuckle. “I knew she couldn’t stay away long.” he told her. He then looked back at Dean and watched as he followed Esme to the kitchen like a puppy, but shot him a glace, telling him to grab the rest before going into the kitchen with Esme. He watched the two disappear behind the wall, then faintly heard Dean’s voice talking to Esme.

When Madison awkwardly let go of his hand, he looked back at her as she pushed her hair behind her ears and shrugged her shoulders before speaking to him. A warm smile came to his face as he looked at her and he shook his head. “It’s alright, I don’t blame you for getting scared when you heard Dean say Esme wasn’t coming back. I would have felt the same if I were in your shoes.” he told her in a warm tone. “I’d be happy to have your help with the rest.” He knew that if Madison helped him with the rest, even if he didn’t need it, it would give Dean and Esme a little more time together and also give Dean the chance to take care of Esme. With a warm smile still on his face, Sam stood from his chair and turned to Madison, offering her a hand to help her out of her chair. “Let’s go get those bags.”