[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

Esme’s gaze lifted back to Duke's when she felt his emotion suddenly change, but before she could react to it, he was smiling again. Though she knew what she felt in that moment from Duke, guilt, and fear. Did he blame himself for her being in the warehouse and fear she could have died if he hadn’t shown up when he did? Before she could answer the question in her mind, he had answered her question about being like old times and laughed. She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her, knowing that she had opened the door for that comment from him and it was true. “True.” she said simply, with a laugh in her tone. With his bright smile and shining eyes on hers, she couldn’t help but smile back. Even as he brushed his thumb across her cheek, her smile remained. When he stood, she let her hand slid from his arm and rest on her lap as she watched him remove his hat and toss it on the dresser. 

When he turned back to face her, and bent down, asking her to raise her good arm, she felt nervousness creeping in as she lifted her arm and he helped as he removed her shirt. It was all she could do not to suddenly flinch or tense up from his touch, even at how gentle he was being. The memory from a few years ago trying to creep into her tired mind at that moment, but she forced it back like she always did and spoke to herself. [i]This is Duke. You can trust him. What happened that night won’t happen with him. He’s never done anything to hurt you.[/i] Her little pep talk to herself helped her calm her nerves a bit and helped her stay relaxed as Duke freed her arm from her shirt. With her arm free, she worked with the bottom of her shirt to make things easier in getting it over her head. After he snaked her shirt over her head, she readied herself for him to peel it from the stab wound on her other shoulder. 

Esme gritted her teeth and hissed a bit as Duke slowly peeled the shirt from the stab wound. When it came loose, she looked over at him, seeing that he had also been gritting his teeth as if he was feeling her pain. When he pulled the shirt from her wrist, she also sighed, giving a small nod at his words. She knew the worst part was still to come, and she was preparing herself for it. “Not too bad, and don’t I know it.” she replied as he moved to the bandana. She watched as he gently picked at the knot he had made, then looked at him as he spoke, nodding her head softly. It was a night she had tried to forget, but it was one that constantly stuck around in her mind. She closed her eyes and sighed as she continued to listen, trying not to feel as the bandana came free from her leg. “I remember it.” she said softly. “It’s one of those memories that’s hard to forget.” She kept her eyes closed as she felt him move to the blood-soaked shirt that covered the stab wound on her thigh.

She moved her good hand to the mattress, gripping the blanket on the bed as he continued to talk about that day. As he spoke, she wondered what had prompted him to bring it up. Was it because of the state she was in? Or did he just feel the need to confess? With those questions burning in her mind and the memory coming back to her, she didn’t feel Duke pull the t-shirt free from her thigh and then place it back to stop the bleeding that started again. She could hear Duke’s words playing in her head as if he had said them yesterday, and could also hear her own words, as well as see the state he had been in. She fought the lump that was working its way into her throat and the tears that threatened to fill her eyes. Opening her eyes with a soft sigh, she looked at Duke, her eyes softening more than they ever had towards him and becoming glassy with tears threatening to fill them. The memory still hit her hard after all the time that had passed. She had thought she was going to lose him that day.  

She released the covers on the bed, then moved her hand to rest on his, and squeezing it gently as her other hand came up to hold on to her wire necklace again, out of habit. She sighed through her nose as her gaze dropped a bit. “I know….. I know why you said what you did.” she whispered. “I even came to realize how you felt about me, even before you confessed that day.” She lifted her gaze to meet his once again, her grip on his hand tightening a little more. “I also have a confession for that day.” she told him. “Seeing you in that state scared the hell out of me, and hearing you talk like you were going to die scared me even more. I know I didn’t show it, because you know I could never let you or Dean see that in me.” She closed her eyes again, the memory playing out once more behind her eyes. “I felt you were giving up, and I was going to lose you. I couldn’t bear thinking about losing a member of my family, that’s why I was so hard on you.” she confessed.

[h2]2003[/h2]

Esme stood looking at Duke sitting on the floor of the storm cellar, a machete in one hand and her other hand in a fist. Her eyes scanning over his injuries and falling on his stab wound on his abdomen. “Hellfire!” she muttered to herself. As he began talking, she gripped the machete tighter. “Don’t you….” she trailed off when he told her to shut up. She knew where he was going with his words, and she didn’t want to hear it. She had slightly turned away from him as he spoke, her grip tightened even more at his words. Her eyes closed, and she shook her head. She whirled around to face him when he finished, then knelt down in front of him, despite her own injuries. “Don’t you dare give up on me, Duke Hatfield.” she told him sternly. 

She stood back up, turning slightly so she could see Duke and the cellar door. “You and I are going to get out of this. It may not be in one piece, but it will be alive.” Setting down her machete near Duke, she pulled off her jacket and then her overshirt. Kneeling at Dukes side, she pressed her overshirt to his wound and placed his hands on top of it. Putting her jacket back on, she looked back up into his face. “I don’t want to hear any more about one of us not making it out of here, alright?” She looked back at the cellar door, her jaw clenching as she did so. “We’re going to get out of here together and alive, even if I have to take on all those bloodsuckers myself.”