[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

As Esme waited for Duke to collect himself after the bomb she laid on him, she continued to lay on the bed curled up against Sarah and mumbling to herself. “He’ll get through this, just like he always does. He just needs time to process it…… I put a lot on him at once after so much time apart.” Sighing, she nuzzled more into the pillow and stared at Sarah’s chest as she rubbed it, which was soothing in a strange way. She didn’t think anyone would or could understand how she could be so calm around a Hellhound since they were associated with death and Hell. Maybe it was the fact she was an Empath and could somewhat communicate with them on an emotional level and even shield her from the emotions of others. Which was something she would have never thought possible in a million years. She still thought she was a little crazy for allowing herself to become attached to Sarah and letting her stick around, but she couldn’t deny the fact she was thankful to have found something that shielded her from everyone's emotions.

It was almost as if someone had finally taken pity on her for all the emotional abuse she had endured all her life even if it was in a strange form. Who would have thought that Hellhounds could be a buffer for those that were in tune with the emotional states of those around them? If you were to tell those kinds of people or other hunters, they would deem you crazy without any questions asked, it sounded utterly absurd even though she was right in the middle of it. She laughed softly at the thoughts going through her mind about it all. “Only I could get myself into things as absurd as this.” she told herself faintly. “I know Duke has to think I’m crazy for allowing a Hellhound so close to me and hanging around. The others for sure don’t like that a Hellhound is hanging around. But they don’t understand why I allow it and I’m not sure they would understand even if I explained it to them.” She sighed through her nose and brought the blankets up more around her and rubbed Sarah’s chest some more. 

She fell silent once again as thoughts swam through her mind, all of them about what had happened since she had heard of Dean being alive, meeting back up with him, everything that had happened since then, and what they possibly thought of her. In the end, Esme told herself that if they had a problem with anything, they’d come to her and tell her, they were all pretty straightforward individuals. Forcing her mind to focus on better things, she finally managed to relax more and get some rest without worrying about other things. As she laid there, her eyelids began to get heavy and she fought hard to keep her eyes from closing. She was still determined to stay awake until Duke came out of the bathroom, but it was proving difficult. “Come on, Esme. You need to stay awake.” she told herself with a yawn. She dozed off a few times and woke with a slight jump, and a few times Sarah woke her by nudging her gently with a small whine. 

By the time Duke came out of the bathroom from his toilet thinking, Esme had dozed off again and Sarah had given up on keeping her awake. When Duke entered the room, Sarah lifted her head from the pillow and nudged Esme awake just before Duke cleared his throat. A little groggy, she listened to his words, almost a bit afraid to turn and face him, but as he continued, a small smile came to her lips as he rambled on and seemed to genuinely not want to interrupt her rest. When he finished, she patted Sarah’s chest, then carefully rolled to her back as Sarah once again slid off the bed and to the floor. She looked over at him, her gaze soft and a soft smile on her lips to keep things light. She wanted to keep things as light as possible after the bomb she had dropped on him, she didn’t want to scare him any more than she already had.

“Oh Bright Eyes.” she started with a soft sigh, knowing how hard he was trying to keep it together for her. “You don’t have to get your own room…… Unless you feel like you need to. Though I’d love nothing more than to sit here and talk while we have some pizza. I don’t want you to be in the dark on anything while you're here, I want you to be able to understand, but I also don’t want to lay any more on you than you can handle. I don’t want to scare you any more than I already have. It’s the last thing I wanted to do.” She then rolled slightly so she could look at him a little better and so she could really see his face, her features still soft but her eyes held some sadness. Her gaze dropped suddenly and a sigh escaped through her nose as she stared at the lump in the blanket that was her foot. “Who am I kidding.” she said faintly to herself before looking back up at him. “To be honest with you…… I…… I don’t want to be left alone. I want you to stay.” 

Admitting to Duke she didn’t want to be alone was a surprise to herself, since she was never one to show that side of herself, but it was the truth even if she wasn’t truly alone because of Sarah being in the room. She wanted, no she needed the company of another human being after everything that had gone on that day and the days before especially from one that was like herself in ways. “Will you stay for a little while, please? Then later if you want to get your own room, you can. I won’t stop you.”