[h3] Dean Winchester and Annabeth [/h3]

Dean moved to the side, letting Sam and Nat come in, as he took in the information they had given him.  He watched Anna closely as she stepped into the room, frowning a bit at how afraid of him she seemed, now that his mood had shifted into work mode.  Dean smirked at the girls going back and forth over Cason inviting both Anna and Nat to be his plus one, and honestly, he didn’t really want Cason to come along at all.

“Well we can attempt to avoid that whole scenario.”, he chimed, before Sam asked him what they had found out from Nat, “It seems that we’ve all been given similar information, as far as things sounding very witchy.  The widow said basically nothing, except that the girl…who’s name is on the paper you guys had is their babysitter.”

Anna stepped away from Sam, but stayed close to the door, leaning against the wall.  She frowned at the word ‘witch’ being brought up again, but stayed pretty quiet.  It was bad enough that it seemed they would have to work with her ex, but working with Dean and Cason, she felt like an easy target for almost anything that wanted to get ahold of her.  After a few moments, she spoke up, “Maybe I should go with Cason.”

“What?!”, Dean asked incredulously, turning to her with raised eyebrows.

“I know him better than anyone here, at least…aside from the demon stuff.  And he probably knows more about demons than most of us.  So, maybe I should go with him, and you guys can mosey around and check into things.”, she explained, shrugging her shoulders as she turned her eyes down toward the carpet.

[h3] Duke and Cason [/h3]

Duke chuckled as Esme brought her hand up to his chest and pushed him back from the kiss.  Her words forced a wide smile across his face, and as she nuzzled his nose, his smile fell slowly until their lips were meeting again.  He returned the kiss, pulling her into him as she deepened the kiss.  He had just leaned his weight against her, to lay her down on the mattress, when the door suddenly opened, and he pulled from the kiss with a gasp of surprise, instinctively covering Esme a bit better with the blankets.

“I should know better than to not knock with this group.  I haven’t even been gone that long!”, Cason complained as he stepped into the room.  Sarah quickly ran away from him, and jumped onto Esme’s side of the bed, curling up near her side, while eyeing Duke with curiosity.  Not that he could see that.

Duke narrowed his eyes and he raised his hand, “Dude!  Yeah, knockin’ is usually a bit of a courtesy, you know!  We were just about to order a pizza, since you took ten years to show back up.  She needs to rest.”

Cason sighed, tapping his fingers on the table as he walked over to it, and he avoided raising his glance to look at Esme.  He could tell, by the fact that Duke was shirtless and Esme’s shoulders were peeking out from under the blankets that there was more going on than just ordering a simple pizza.  Something had been rekindled, and any work he had put into getting Esme to come around, and give him a chance was shattered, the second Duke came sweeping back in.

“Well, I brought Sarah.  I thought she could…help with the healing and stuff.  I’ll go…find a room.”, he grumbled, pointing a finger at Sarah, “Stay or go, but stay away from the Winchesters, Sarah.”

He turned and placed his hand on the door knob, before exiting the room with another grumble.  He couldn’t take care of her.  He couldn’t hold her, without being assaulted, and now, he had brought her a dog to say ‘sorry for you being tortured because of me’ and she was snuggled up in bed with some grifter he didn’t know.  It was as if he was being punished all over again, for things he had done over two hundred years ago.

“Who’s Sarah?”, Duke asked, a little whiplashed from Cason’s quick in and out.  The guy seemed really upset when he left, but Duke glanced over to the depression on the bed, where Cason had been pointing, and Sarah nudged Esme’s neck, draping a paw over her lap carefully, “Invisible dog?”