Duke
Duke laughed softly as Esme complained about him giving her the eyes. He knew it would work. It always worked. It was like his super power with the women in his life. He turned the eyes off, softening his face into a comfortable smile as she picked up the sandwich and took a bite, causing him to sigh with relief, “Good. Eat. That’s all I want you to do.”, he murmured, bringing up his hand and brushing her cheek with his thumb in a quick motion. He followed her eyes down to his stomach and he frowned a bit, tilting his head before turning his eyes back to hers. He started to shake his head, but she cut him off before he could argue too much.
Her words caused him to smirk with mischief and he shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. That don’t exactly sound bad, as long as its you tyin’ me up. I’m down for…new things.”
As she leaned into him, a memory began to slip into his mind, thanks to Esme being tired and accidentally projecting it onto him. The memory was one of the strangest and yet best nights of Duke’s life. As the memory played out, Duke remembered distinctly the sound of the woman he had been dancing with calling the name he had given her. He had pulled away from her the second that he saw Esme’s pleading eyes, and the groping that she was dealing with. He remembered the pang of jealousy that flooded his chest, but also the worry for her safety that took over that jealousy.
As he cut in, Esme’s body pressed to his, safe and sound as they danced caused his head to swim. His own voice flooded through some of the haze and he smiled outwardly at the offer.
“I can break his arm. He won’t be feelin’ anyone up for a while…”
But she had refused his offer, and simply danced with him. It was the closest he had been to her, other than the hug they had shared right after they met. That dress, her makeup, the way her hair sat just right against the side of her face…it all drew him in and for a moment, he had to admit that he was a bit more attached to her than he would ever express out loud.
It was that night that he had admitted to her one of his favorite grifts, swindling old rich women at parties. He wooed them, took their husbands to the cleaners, bedded a few of them, and then blew through town like the cowboy he was. As they danced, the memory began to fade just a bit, and he shook his head, turning his eyes back to Esme’s face in the present as she mentioned the masks. His eyes turned to them, and he smiled softly, “Just a little reminder of…that night. Better times.”
Back in the day, Duke would have been weirded out by the fact that Esme’s memories were projecting onto him, but now that he knew about her powers, and her lack of control over them when she was tired, he just…accepted it. As long as the memories were good, he would just roll with it.
Duke scooted back on the bed, and he moved his pillows around, laying back and pulling the covers up around his shoulders. He reached out, pulling Esme close as she snuggled up to him, her legs tangling with his in their little puzzle game they always played under the blankets. He could tell that she was about five seconds away from passing out, when she pulled him close and whispered sweet words against his lips. He smiled softly, reaching his hand up to brush through the side of her hair, “I love you, Sweet Pea.”
As he kissed her back, he felt her face relax, and he chuckled through his nose, pulling her into his chest. He kissed her hair and wrapped her up in his arms, leaning his cheek against the top of her head as he fell asleep.
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Duke awoke from the most vivid dream he had dealt with in a long time. As his eyes shot open and he gasped for air, he replayed some of the dream in his brain, trying to figure out where he had seen any of it. He didn’t remember that being…a thing for him. He knew it couldn’t be the future or anything, because Esme looked so much younger to him in the dream. It was then, thinking of Esme, that he realized that the dream was most likely a night mare she was projecting onto him in her sleep.
With a sigh, he brought his hand up and ran it through his sweaty blonde hair, staring at the ceiling as he realized it was morning, and the sun was peeking through the small windows of the RV. He turned his head, glancing down at Esme as she slept, but she felt extra heavy on his arm, like she was really….really out. He frowned, and leaned his head a little closer to her, realizing that her breathing wasn’t blowing his hair at all. In a slight panic, he pulled the blankets back from them and pulled his arm from under her head.
“Esme?” He whispered, adjusting to lean over her as he rolled her onto her back. She was completely limp, and looking down at her from this angle, she didn’t appear to be breathing at all. He brought his shaky hand down to her neck, feeling for her pulse, which made him sigh with a tiny bit of relief. He could feel it, but it was deep and slow, “Don’t do this to me. C’mon. Wake up sweetheart.”
He moved his hand from her neck, wrapping his fingers around her jaw to shake her head a bit, trying to jar her from her sleep. He patted her cheek and nothing. Closing his eyes, he clenched his jaw, trying to find somewhere in his brain the solution here. She could have fallen asleep and started bleeding in her brain or something. She did hit her head really hard back at the barn. He let out a shaky breath, tempted to go get Dean. Dean would know what to do.
“Baby please…c’mon wake up.” He whispered, as his eyes clouded over with a few scared tears. After a moment of just scanning her face for any signs of movement, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, inhaling through his nose as a tear fell onto her cheek.
Dean
Dean sighed as Mika suggested that he should rest with her, after Castiel left them. He wasn’t ready to be dragged into anything with angels, after everything they had dealt with. Typically, they at least got a few days of downtime in between hunts, and he didn’t know why it couldn’t be the case this time…other than the stupid seals and the stupid apocalypse looming. Dean unbuttoned his jeans and he slipped them off his legs, as she let him go and walked over to the bed. He shrugged off his jacket and then reached back to pull his t-shirt from his body, tossing it toward the dresser as he walked over to the bed.
As Mika chuckled, Dean glanced to her and he smirked, “I mean, it’s only appropriate that he gets to feel as uncomfortable as he makes others feel when he just shows up. I swear, he’s going to pop into the bathroom to talk to me one day, while I’m fully nude…”
Dean walked around to his side of the bed, and he pulled the blankets back, climbing in and settling against the pillows. He laid his arm out against the other pillow, expecting Mika to curl up on him, and when she did, he sighed happily, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“I’ll do my best to rest. My brain is buzzing a lot right now…” Dean muttered, tilting his head to press his cheek against Mika’s head after she kissed his cheek. He stared off into space, thoughts of what the angels had planned for him…with Alastair of all people buzzing around in his head. After a while, he had apparently fallen asleep.
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Dean awoke with a start, having nightmares of Hell for the first time in what felt like forever. He tensed up on Mika, breathing a sigh of relief the second he felt her breath against his jaw. She was fine. He was fine. They were alive and it was apparently morning. He didn’t move, just stared at the ceiling for a moment as he tried to still his racing heart.
He had a bad feeling about today…
Cason
Cason stared at the ceiling all night, frowning at times when Nat would twitch in her sleep, or he would notice her breathing changing. But he didn’t wake her up. Even with the nightmares he could tell she was having, she needed the rest. But as the morning broke, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, deciding that enough was enough as she began to cry again. He could feel the hot splatters of tears against his bare chest and he frowned.
“Hey. Baby wake up.” He whispered in the dim light of the room, shaking her shoulder a bit. He didn’t know what she was dreaming about, but he could imagine a few scenarios. He scooted himself to where he could whisper in her ear, nuzzling his nose against the side of her face, “Wake up. I’m right here.”
Anna
Anna didn’t stir when Sam first touched her, brushing a strand of hair from her face, but when his touch came back and he wrapped up on her, she smiled pleasantly and her eyes fluttered open a bit against the side of his neck. His kiss to the top of her head made her smile a bit wider, “Good morning. You seem mighty lovey after last night.”, she murmured against his skin, before kissing his neck.
She pulled her head back a bit to stare into his sleepy hazel eyes, just sinking into them. She felt as if she had never really watched his eyes, or been able to appreciate the wave of humanity that just sat behind them, screaming to be seen. He held so much empathy and repressed love there, and she wanted to swim in the bluish green.
“Waking up with you sure is nice.” She whispered against his lips as she smiled, brushing his hair back from the side of his face with her fingertips. She trailed her fingers down his jaw and over his cheek, before tracing his eyebrow, just taking in all of the features she had yearned to see this close for what felt like a lifetime. “Seeing your face is also nice…I’ve missed you being so close.”