[h2]Esme[/h2]
Esme scrunched her nose a bit when Duke softly laughed at her weariness of the sandwich but smiled when he confirmed her thoughts. But she couldn’t help it. She was too tired to get out of bed and find a place to throw her guts up from something Bobby slipped into the sandwich like he did the whiskey. Duke would have to carry her to bed, which she was sure he wouldn’t mind, but then he would be even more worried about her and never let her out of his sight. Esme also didn’t want to go through it again because she knew she wouldn’t be worth anything in the morning. She was already worried about falling into such a deep sleep that she wouldn’t wake up for a few days, and she could picture the panic on Duke’s face when he couldn’t wake her by talking to or shaking her. Duke had never witnessed that except for small moments when they were a trio, and Dean would kiss her to wake her. She sighed inwardly before looking back at Duke as he came and sat next to her on the bed. She followed his eyes to the sandwich and then looked back at his face.

He gave Esme the answer she thought he would, and she matched his smile. Her eyes never left his face as he removed his hat, tossed it on the sink, and looked back at her. Her smile grew at his next words, and she even laughed with him. Esme knew she was in worse shape than he was, but he was still hurt, too, and she wanted to take care of him. When Duke gave her the eyes, she half wished he was still wearing his hat so she could pull it down over his eyes, but she laughed a little more. “Okay, okay. Stop with the eyes already. I’ll take care of myself.” she told him through her laugh. Looking down at the plate, she picked up half the sandwich and took a bite. “See, I’m eating.” she said through her bite as she looked back at him. Chewing and swallowing the bite she took, her eyes fell to the bandage on Duke’s stomach before returning to his face. “You need to be taken care of too.” she told him. “And don’t you dare tell me you don’t. You know I’ll tie you down and make you let me take care of you.” 

Her tone was serious, but a loving smile rested on her lips, showing that she really wanted to take care of him just as he wanted to take care of her. Taking another bite of her sandwich, Esme leaned into Duke and sighed contently, her eyes falling back on the masquerade masks. As she stared at them, another memory of that night came flooding into her mind, and unbeknownst to her, she projected it to Duke as well. Esme had just finished a dance with the owner of the place, and in his drunken state, his hands had started to drift to her ass. She was trying her damndest to keep her cool as she tried to keep his hands away from her ass as they had danced, but when they did, she’d move in such a way that his hand slid off. As the next song started, the owner took her into his arms again and began dancing with her. Keeping a smile, she looked around the room for Dean and Duke, hoping they were done with their part of the job. Just as she spotted Duke, the man's hands found her ass again, and she clenched her jaw. 

After making eye contact with Duke, she gave him a look that said, ‘help me out here, please.’ Duke didn’t waste any time weaving his way through the throng, but she lost sight of him when the man turned her to change directions. Once she located him again and he was close, Esme pushed herself away and spun right into his open arms as he asked if he could cut in. The man opened his mouth to argue, but Duke pulled Esme away before he could get a word out. Once they were out of earshot and sight of the owner, she relaxed a bit and sighed. “Man, am I glad to see you. I’m not sure I could handle much more of his groping.” she told Duke. Duke, in his usual manner, smiled brightly at her with a light chuckle and asked her if she wanted him to go and kick his ass. Esme laughed and shook her head. “As tempting as that sounds, no. We don’t need that kind of attention on us.” After agreeing with her, he pushed her from him and spun her, then quickly brought her back to him and led her around the dance floor with a smile resting on his face.

“Did you and Dean find and get the item?” she asked him. He gave her a look that said, ‘I can’t believe you asked that.’ But nodded with a smile before verbally saying they did. “Great. I was a little worried with how many showed up to this party. Guess that means the three of us can enjoy the rest of the night then.” Duke agreed with her with his bright smile and worked his magic with her on the dance floor, drawing everyone's eyes to them as they danced. “Maybe this should have been the distraction. No one can tear their eyes away from us.” she joked before Duke dipped her with a light chuckle. The memory slowly faded as the song ended. They bowed to the crowd, and Dean approached them to get the next dance. Esme released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding while the memory overtook her, dropped her eyes to the plate, and took another bite before her eyes returned to the masks. After chewing and swallowing her mouthful, Esme yawned, now feeling the tiredness settling in. “When I’m not so tired and can hear your full answer. You’ll have to tell me why you kept those.” she said in a soft, tired tone as she gestured to the masks and yawned again.

Esme fell silent and finished her sandwich. Then, she put the plate and her phone off to the side out of the way before settling into the bed with a yawn. Once Duke settled into the bed and was comfortable, she snuggled up to him and tangled her legs up with his. Tilting her head, she looked up at Duke with tired eyes and a tired smile, then placed her hand on his cheek, gently pulling his face closer to hers. “I love you so much, Duke.” she softly whispered against his lips. Esme then closed her eyes and kissed him lovingly, falling asleep in the middle of the kiss. Her sleep started out peaceful, but later on, it turned into a nightmare. She found herself back in the asylum, reliving the experiments they did on her. Little did she know, she was sharing it with Duke as he slept.