[h3] Dean Winchester [/h3]

Dean sighed with relief as Mika confirmed that he hadn’t hurt her this time around.  He at least had that, and her words following caused his heart to swell.  Just hearing that he had locked her down, after all this time, and that she was willing to just fight back against anyone who came between them was yet another relief.  He released her foot when she pulled it from his hands, and turned his eyes up to hers, the green in his eyes illuminated by the sunlight coming in from the window.

“You’ve ruined me, you know that?  I would be a wreck without you, now.”, he murmured, nuzzling against her hand as she kissed his lips.  He kissed her back, just as gently, and met her eyes with a soft laugh, “I don’t think you’re useless. You’re a lot stronger than me.  A lot.  Mika you’re terrifying.”

He laughed a bit harder, leaning in to kiss her lips one more time, “But I love you.  I’ll do what I can to ignore him…until I can’t.”

As he sat there, scanning between her eyes, just taking in the calm of Mika not being angry with him, and having her beneath his hands as long as he wanted her there, a knock at the door caused him to flinch.  He stood reluctantly from the floor, and walked toward the door, turning to glance at Mika with a bit of apprehension, as he swung the door open and Nat stood there, “I’m assuming you have news…”

[h3] Annabeth and Cason [/h3]

Cason shrugged his shoulders as Nat passed him, and smirked, “Your loss.  I’m a fun plus one.”

Anna simply rolled her eyes again, shoving him lightly to tell him to zip his mouth shut for now.  He leaned in as she passed and pressed a kiss to her cheek, before patting Sam on the arm, “I’ll just wait for signs of life from Esme.  I’m a little afraid to walk into her room unannounced.”

“If we’re lucky, she’ll shoot you again.  So, feel free.”, Anna chimed over her shoulder with a sheepish grin.  Cason waved her off, pulling a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket, and pulled one, lighting it with a grumpy glare at the ground.  Anna turned and laced her fingers with Sam’s, pulling herself close to him as they walked to Dean and Mika’s door.  After Nat knocked, the door swung open, and Dean stood there, his face still a bit red from the drama with Cason.  Anna stayed quiet, and pulled herself further behind Sam’s back, barely showing her face to Dean as he stood in the doorway.

[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke kept his kiss soft, as Esme froze against him, her body rigid and her heart racing against his fingertips.  He had half a mind to pull back from the kiss completely, admitting that it was a mistake and handing her an apology on a silver platter.  But slowly he felt her body relax, as he brushed his lips over hers once again, and she leaned into the kiss.  Duke’s heart swelled as soon as her feelings hit his mind.

He wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck carefully, pulling her lips tighter to his as he carefully brushed his tongue across her bottom lip.  He held himself back from furthering the kiss, not wanting to push her past her limits, or possibly push them past a point of no return that would be moving too fast…and that she wasn’t really capable of.

He broke the kiss carefully, brushing his fingertips across her cheek as he scanned her eyes and smiled brightly, “I’ve been wanting to do that from the day I met you, way back in the day.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

He smiled widely again, chuckling as he glanced down at her lips.  He moved his fingers down to her chin, and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, “And judging by that buzz I feel in my head, coming off of you, I don’t think you minded.”, he whispered with another chuckle, leaning in to kiss her lips a bit more excitedly.  He didn’t know what this meant.  He didn’t know where they stood with each other.  He didn’t even know if this really was a mistake.  But what he did know, was that he didn’t want pizza yet.  He just wanted to hold her close, and feel her lips that he had fought himself to the point of drawing blood from his cheeks, to not kiss them.  Now, she was willingly kissing him, her skin against his palm and nothing but each other.