[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

Esme’s head dropped to look at the floor as Duke spoke about their time in Salado. Bringing a hand up and closing her eyes, she placed it on the uninjured side of her face and shook her head, not remembering that part of the night. “Oh, god.” she whispered. It was hard to picture herself in a state such as that. It made her cringe at the thought of her even acting like that. At his teasing, she opened her eyes and looked up from her hand to him as he came back into the room, not missing the rippling of his muscles as he shook out his arms. Blinking quickly, she looked up at his face as he walked over to her. “Of course I.” she grinned. “I always was before that and I still am.” she laughed. Being a hunter, you needed to be strong, otherwise, things could go south fast. She had trained long and hard and still did, to build up the strength she needed to face almost anything that she would come across in this life as not to fall prey to them. She never wanted to become someone that everyone thought they needed to save. 

When Duke reached out and wrapped his arms around her, she went slightly tense and cursed herself for doing so. After he pulled her to her feet and tight against his chest, she placed her hands on his biceps as he held her and looked up into his face, meeting his gaze as he spoke. “I don’t remember any of that.” she laughed. Which was true. She could remember everything up to the point of where they carried her out and put her in the car, then everything else just went blank. But him taking care of her while Dean went out to get what they needed was definitely him. As he walked backward and pulled her along with him, she carefully walked along with him as to not pop the stitches in her thigh, wincing a bit as she went. Once in the bathroom, she put her weight on her good leg as his hands went to her hips. Esme could feel his emotions changing as if he was afraid, then felt his nervousness as he hooked his fingers into her underwear and pulled them down until they hit the floor.

Her eyebrows went up in surprise and couldn’t stop herself from tensing up as she looked at him, not expecting him to pull them off without some type of warning or even asking if it was alright. It explained his nervousness to some extent. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen her naked before, but he had normally asked before removing an article of clothing from her. When he held her again, she carefully stepped out of her underwear and slid them to the side with a small wince before settling back on her good leg again. A small smile came to her lips at his apology and him calling her love. Then she gently shook her head as she looked down a bit. “It’s alright. I’d rather things be personal than…….” she lost her train of thought momentarily and swallowed hard as he flicked her bra open. “Than hitting my head on any of the porcelain in here.” she finished. As he lifted the strap over the stitches on her shoulder, she lifted her hands from his arms so he could slide the bra straps off her arms.

“Besides, we both know this isn’t our first rodeo. Even if I was a bit…… More out of it during those times.” she said with a small smile and laugh to calm herself and him. Once the bra left her arms, she rested them against his chest before she looked back up at Duke to scan his face, finding it hard to miss his nervous smile as he tossed her bra onto the floor. It was hard to stop the smile that crept onto her lips at his next words and laughed a little. “In this life, you have to heal fast.” she joked. “You also know it’s always been hard to keep me down. It also helps when you have someone to help take care of yourself.” she added before he released her waist and brushed her cheek with his fingertips. She closed her eyes for a moment at the action, then met his gaze again, noticing his stare as she became lost in his eyes once again. When he shook himself from his stare, she blinked and looked down at her hands as he took them in his, then looked back up at him. 

A warm smile rested on her lips at his sweetness, happy he hadn’t lost that side of himself. At his request to get in and relax, Esme nodded her head softly, held his hands tighter, and moved closer to the bath with his help. “I think I can manage that.” she said warmly. With Duke’s help, she stepped into the bath and lowered herself to sit in the water. Once in, she leaned back and sunk into the water as she let go of his hands, resting her hands on her stomach with a sigh of contentment. The water felt wonderful and it was already working to relax her tired and stiff body, her eyes slowly closed as the water relaxed her more and more. “Thank you again for getting us out of there and patching me up, Bright Eyes.” she whispered after a bit, a soft smile resting on her lips.