[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke concentrated on the road for a bit, as he heard Esme taking deep breaths, almost concerned that the drive itself was causing her pain.  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel at the thought, rushing through some painful memories of the last time they were in a dire situation, and he was behind the wheel.  Unfortunately, for him, Dean was also in the car with them.  Between the gravel road being bumpy and aggressively shaking the car, and Dean’s screaming from the backseat as he panicked over her injuries, the memory didn’t settle well in the back of Duke’s mind.

He swallowed the memory down, quickly pulling the corners of his eyes back into their signature smirk and watched center line of the road intently.  He pulled the words ‘of course I missed you’ into his mind and swirled them around, letting them wash over his heart a bit.  The fact that she had even thought about him, after he fell off the map was exciting, and that was after the break up with Dean had complicated their relationship.  Dean was his brother, by choice, and when she left, he was stuck with a decision.

The decision wasn’t fair, but it was morally obvious.  He chose Dean.  He stayed behind with him, and he and Esme just…fell apart.  Then Dean went through various existential crises, between meeting up with Mika again, and then essentially kidnapping his brother from college.  Duke just kind of bowed out.  He silently wondered if Mika was still around, or how things were after Dean had come back from Hell.  Word got around in the hunter’s circles…

Esme’s voice shook him from his thoughts and he flinched, turning to look at her with a soft smile.  Her fading smile caused him to furrow his brow, keeping an eye on the road, but glancing often back to her face as she finally asked her question.  Shrugging his shoulders, he turned back toward the road and took a deep breath, “Yes and no.”

He paused, and glanced back over at her, “I made it as far as New York City, ready to get on the next flight out of the country, straight to Cairo, and I kept seeing signs everywhere.  You know, fate stuff.  It started with a husky, of all things.  He was a super sweet dog, lovin’ on me and begging to be petted while he sat out on the sidewalk with his owner.  He looked so much like a wolf that I couldn’t help but think of you, you know?”

Duke tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, nodding his head to encourage himself to keep speaking, “And then I was in the airport, drinking some overpriced but super strong coffee, and this blonde girl sat down at the table next to me.  At first, while she sat there, I thought nothing of it…but then it hit me.  I didn’t want to go alone.  I mean, sure, Cairo and Giza and all the curses and mummies would have been a blast to see.  I’ve been obsessed since I was a kid.”

He turned his gaze back to hers with a small smile, tilting his head to the side, “But it just didn’t seem so tempting, being on my own.  That was our little pipe dream adventure.”

Duke shrugged his shoulders, a little scoff escaping his chest as he wiped a hand across the stubble on his chin, self soothing himself from the admission.  He kept his eyes on the road, until they pulled close to the parking lot, and he carefully drove the truck over the lip in the pavement, and parked it next to Dean’s all too familiar Impala.