[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

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.

[h2]Sam Winchester[/h2]

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.”