[h3] Dean Winchester [/h3]

Dean watched her thinking, until she opened her eyes and looked at him.  His heart fluttered at the fact that she was even willing to, after what he had said inside.  Then as he noticed she was shaking, he rubbed his hands along her shoulder, bringing his other hand up to match, his stomach falling a bit, as he knew she was in a lot of pain.  Pain that he had never put her through, before.

His face softened, as he watched between her eyes and she explained what she had been thinking, between the day she left and him dying.  He hadn’t even thought about her finding out about his death, and internally wondered who had called her.  He figured it must have been Bobby, since he was their most loyal contact.  He swallowed roughly, a tear falling from his own eye, “Esme…I…”

Then Dean heard the words he had been waiting for.  She regretted leaving, or at least the way she left.  After he mentioned wanting to get a place of their own, and calm down for a little while, maybe make things more seriously, she had bolted.  Hearing that she regretted the way she did things was almost a relief, causing him to sigh.  He reached up, and whisked the tear away from her cheek with his thumb, wiping it on his jacket casually.

It was hard to know what to say, as the memory of her leaving played in his head.  It both made him sad to think about their relationship ending so abruptly and when things were going good, and also about how he had left Mika a few months prior to meeting Esme.  No explanation.  No remorse.  He just left and moved past the relationship for a while, until they fell back together.

Dean felt a strong urge in the pit of his stomach, as she apologized, to just reach out and either kiss her, or just…hold her.  He needed to do something, as the bottled up emotions from the lack of closure bubbled higher and higher in his chest, “I never…I um…I never held malice toward you.  Esme…”

He reached toward her arms to pull her to him, just as she stepped back from him, causing him to freeze and flinch a bit.  He wasn’t sure what to do with himself.  He shoved his hands into his jacket and just listened, as she hit another low note in his life, and his throat seized up, flashbacks of Hell flooding his brain, on top of random flashes of them together, he and Mika together, and practically every other part of his life that was complicated.

Dean turned, himself, to bring a hand to pinch his tear ducts, gasping at the sudden urge to cry.  When he turned back to her, her eyes met his and he softened, melting a bit at her teary gaze that he had caused, “I um…”

He pushed the thoughts of Hell aside, and went over her words in his mind, before stepping toward her, reaching both hands out and brushing her tears from her face.  He then pulled her into a tight hug, his hand pressing the back of her head to hold her to him.

“I’m so sorry.  Okay?  I’m so sorry, Esme…”, he whispered, kissing the top of her head, “I never meant for this to happen.  When you showed back up, I knew that it would come up eventually, especially since I have been with Mika for a while now.  I’m doing my best to hold everything together right now, and keep you…but keep her as we are.  I didn’t even think about anyone telling you I died.”

He sniffled heavily, “But I’m not going to do this anymore.  It’s killing us both.  You deserve better, and you knew that.”

He pulled her face away from his chest and stared into her eyes, “You saved my life, when I didn’t deserve it…and the way you left was one of the worst nights of my life.  But I’m fine.  We’re fine….I forgive you.”


[h3] Annabeth[/h3]

Anna sighed in relief as the smell of demon blood began to dissipate from the room as Sam worked on her hair.  Although the shivers didn’t stop as she had begun to get cold from the water on her bare skin.  As he washed over her back, telling her not to apologize.  She shook her head, “I’m sorry.  Alastair said things…he said things about you, and Ruby.”

She was hesitant to bring up what Alastair had said, while forcing her to choke down the gallons of blood.  She didn’t know how Sam would react, or if Alastair was lying.  She sat still, until he handed her a towel, wrapping it around her body and standing from the chair.

She turned to him, and stepped up to his chest, simply giving him a tight hug, “I’m so glad to be back.  I’m glad you’re okay.  These angels, they came to get Alastair, after I attacked him.  He was going to kill you for me escaping…and I panicked.  I can’t let anyone hurt you…”

She tightened her grip on Sam, “But he’s alive.”