[h3]Esme Stirling[/h3]

Esme watched Duke as she finished talking, taking in his face, body language, and his emotions. She still feared he’d bolt for the door out of fear of her powers and after everything she had told him. Though something told her they could work through this, they had always been there for each other before she had left. He’d helped her through disagreements with Dean and plenty of other things when Dean didn’t seem to know how to help. She was pulled from her thoughts and a slight smile crept to her lips when Duke said he wanted to stay. She couldn’t have been happier to hear those words leave his lips, even if she could still feel his fear. The fact that he could still bring himself to stay there with her through his fear spoke volumes to her. It also showed her just how much he still cared for her and wanted to be there for her.

When Duke approached the bed slowly, her eyes never left him. It hurt seeing him move so cautiously towards the bed as if a flip would switch, causing her to change her mind about him being there or lash out. There were only two people she’d want with her right now, two that she considered family, and trusted her life with. As he crawled onto the bed, she could feel her body trying to tense up on her, but she fought against it by taking in a breath and slowly letting it out. By the time he’d rested in front of her, sank back beneath the blankets, and scooted close enough for their noses to almost touch, she was holding her breath without realizing it. As he spoke, she looked into his blue eyes, her gaze growing soft at his words. She nodded softly, finding it hard to find her own words at that moment because of the fact she was getting lost in his gaze. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw him bring up a shaky hand, the fact it was shaky held back the flinch she felt coming. Esme’s eyes closed briefly as he brushed his thumb across her cheek and finally let out the breath she was holding in. As he slowly leaned in, she didn’t move her head away. The way he leaned forward so slowly with his head against the pillow and swallowed heavily before lightly kissing her, kind of got to her. Did he really think she would hit him or use her abilities against him at that moment? She really hoped not. Leaning forward slightly, she returned his kiss as her eyes slowly closed, then soon deepened the kiss. After a moment, she slightly pulled back from the kiss so that their noses were touching, opening her eyes to look at him, a warm smile on her lips and in her eyes. Slowly bringing up a hand, she brushed her fingers across his cheek then her thumb. 

“I can’t see making you leave anytime soon unless you piss me off.” she whispered softly with a laugh. She then moved her hand up and brushed some of his hair from his face, before letting her hand rest at the back of his head and play with his hair. Tilting her head up, she placed a gentle kiss on his nose, then let her nose touch his again and nuzzled hers with his. “I want you to know, I’ll never use my powers of Empathy on you unless you ask or if I feel I need to, like earlier.” she told him as she continued to play with his hair. “I know my powers scare you. Hell, I’d be scared if I was in your place, but know I’d never hurt you or anyone else. I love you too much to hurt you with them, it would kill me if I ever did.” She looked deep into his eyes to drive home what she was saying, which was the honest truth. The only ones that would get the full taste of her powers were those that came after her, those she cared for, and the monsters they hunted.