[h2]Esme[/h2]
As soon as Duke’s arms went around Esme, her eyes closed and a small smile came to her lips at how tightly he held her. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed these tight hugs from him. She was also well aware of how overwhelmed he felt from her words, knowing most didn’t have much faith in him when it came to taking care of someone or something. But she did have that faith in him and wanted to show him that and possibly give him some of the confidence he lacked when it came to caring for another. And then, as if he had read her mind, he softly voiced what she had just been thinking about. It caused her smile to fade and her hands tighten into fists at what Bobby had said to him on so many occasions. Esme opened her mouth to say something in response but quickly closed it as she felt something in him change as if something was fighting to leave his lips. What he said and his suddenly quickened heartbeat hit her like a truck, causing her eyes to fly open and question if she had really heard him right.

She hadn’t expected him to bring that up so soon after just getting back. Yes, she knew that he didn’t want to get tangled up with the Winchesters again and wanted to go back to what he was used to, but it still surprised her that he wanted to leave so quickly. She wasn’t even sure she was ready for that physically right now. Before she could fully process his words, Duke squeezed her tighter for a few seconds, then pulled back from her and held her by her upper arms, speaking again. As he spoke, she looked into his sad and teary eyes with her own, her hands rested on his sides. After a few moments, Esme opened her mouth to answer but she couldn’t get the words to leave her lips. After softly clearing her throat, she tried once again. “I would love nothing more than to run off with you into the sunset, Duke. To just get back to our normal and leave all this angel stuff as far behind us as we can get it.” she said softly. “I’d be overjoyed to never deal or ever think of them again for as long as I live….”

“But I’m not sure just how much safer we’d be considering all the demons that seem to be after me after learning I’m more than I seem…. I’m a magnet for them, they always seem to know where to find me. I feel like I’m marked.” She fell silent and dropped her gaze with a heavy sigh, she had always thought about looking to see if there was something that would hide her from demons but something always prevented her from following through with it. She sighed again and slowly lifted her gaze back to his, knowing he probably wasn’t going to like what she had to say next. “I’m not sure how soon you wanted to leave, but something tells me now isn’t the time for us to leave. No matter how much we both feel that we aren’t any good to them…. I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear but I can’t shake this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something big is coming and they’re going to need all the help they can get. It’s one thing that has kept me here for so long even though I know Mika wants me gone.” 

Esme closed her eyes and sighed heavily, letting her head drop and her hair cover her face. As she stood there, her hand gripped his wet shirt, squeezing some of the water from it. “This feeling is much like the ones I would get when it was just the three of us and if you remember, something always seemed to come out of them. This one is so strong I can’t ignore it.” she said just above a whisper. Opening her eyes, she slowly lifted her gaze back up to met his once again. “Do you think you can stick around a little while longer until whatever it is comes to pass?”