[h2]Esme[/h2]
Before Esme had asked Duke to grab her a chocolate bar and the painkillers from her car, Duke’s words repeated in her head. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t deny how happy she was to hear, “I’m not gonna go nowhere without you. If I leave, you leave,” come from his mouth, but in the back of her mind she had slight doubts about it actually happening that way because of how her luck was. She quickly pushed the intrusive thoughts to the back of her mind as Duke slowly walked her back to lean against her car. After finding her footing and leaning against the car, she watched Duke make his way around to the other side of the car, eager to help her in any way he could. As she watched him open the passenger side door, Sarah made her to Esme’s side to make sure she didn’t fall. Esme lifted her hand and placed it on Sarah’s head, giving it a scratch and silently letting her know she was alright. Sarah leaned into Esme when she moved her hand from the top of her head to her ear, then down to her neck, and patted it.

Watching Duke open the glovebox and pull out the chocolate and painkillers and pocket them while waiting for his answer to her question, caused a memory to quickly flash before her eyes of a different time. It had been the first time she had overused and had also been overwhelmed by her Empathic abilities around Duke, and it had been Dean that had grabbed the chocolate and painkillers while poor Duke stood off to the side completely confused about what was going on with her. That night she hadn’t been leaning against her beloved Chevelle like she was tonight, it had been Dean’s Impala outside a dilapidated warehouse that had once held a pack of Werewolves. They had played it off like she was suffering from low blood sugar so that they didn’t have to come clean about what she was capable of just yet. Though neither one of them knew for sure if he had truly bought it or not. She was brought back to the present by his chuckle and heard him come back to her side. After he opened the chocolate bar and handed it to her, she took it from him, then took a small bite.
 
When Duke spoke, a small smile came to her lips that was followed by a laugh to match his. She had also lowered her gaze to the chocolate bar in her hand as her cheeks flushed from him calling her, “His girl.” The words almost sounded too strange leaving his lips even with it making her happy to be called “his girl.” Though when he pulled the pill bottle from his pocket and read the label in the dim moonlight, she found herself questioning the words for some odd reason. Maybe it was because of events from her past, or maybe it could be because she was mentally and physically tired from losing control of her abilities that night, but she knew she shouldn’t be questioning it since she knew what kind of person Duke was. Esme mentally kicked herself for letting her mind drift and then pulled her attention back to Duke. A warm smile made it to her lips at his next words, brightening up the tired features of her face. Lifting her gaze from her chocolate bar, she looked up into his face catching his wince and apologetic look for not having anything for her to drink. 

“Dry is fine. You should know this isn’t the first time I’ve had to swallow them dry.” she told him warmly as she took the pills from his hand. While Duke made his call to Bobby, Esme had taken the painkillers and had also managed to close the hood of her car, with the help of Sarah, who made sure she didn’t fall. As he spoke to Bobby, Esme leaned against her car, breaking off pieces of the chocolate bar and nibbling on them. She didn’t focus much on what Duke said to Bobby, because she was mostly focused on not eating the chocolate too fast and making herself sick. At his proud chuckle, she looked up at him just as he was looking at her. A relieved smile made its way to her lips hearing Bobby would come and pick up her car. A thought then hit her, with how things seemed to be going, maybe she would be better off leaving it at Bobby’s for a while. Yes, she loved having her car for those times she needed to go off on her own, but recent events had made it quite difficult even to drive her beloved car.
 
“Awesome! That means I have one less thing to worry about!” she said happily, which was followed by a light laugh. Then she slowly walked around him to the open driver’s door of her car, then sat down in the driver’s seat, leaning her shoulder against the back of the seat as she looked at him. “I’ll go along with going back to the motel, only because I know you’ll argue with me about going somewhere to get a bite after what you’ve witnessed tonight, but that’s only if you promise me we’ll pick something up on the way back.” she grinned. She knew he’d want to whisk her straight back to the motel now that her car situation had been resolved, even though they were both hungry and needed to eat. She knew he wouldn’t want to risk anything else happening to her with how weak she was after going nuclear. Esme then quickly glanced at her attire, and then back up and at the trunk of her car, and sighed softly. Before they left, she was definitely going to grab the duffle bag that had her clothes. She wasn’t about to let herself be stranded without them again.

“Could you help me with my duffles bags? I’m not looking forward to being stranded without clothes again and having to borrow from one of the girls again…. Unless you want to lend me something of yours to wear.” she said in a teasing tone followed by a mischievous grin. Esme knew Mika wouldn’t be too happy about having to lend her some of her clothes to wear again. She then popped one more piece of chocolate into her mouth before she folded the wrapper around the remaining chocolate and tucked it into a pocket of her jacket. Esme then scooted herself back and laid across the seat, opened the glovebox, and proceeded to fish out the remaining chocolate bars. She didn’t want to leave them in there with her car going to Bobby’s for a few days. By the time they made it to Bobby’s, there could be a mess waiting for her in the form of melted chocolate.