everybody I know seems to know me well.

[thehandsomeone]

Dean is in his and Sam's room at the Conrad, waiting for Sam to get back and freaking out. It's a really quiet kind of freaking out that Dean wouldn't admit to, but, hey. He just got accosted in a diner by some guy who seemed to know an awful lot of his and Sam's history. Who had magic powers and didn't seem to like him or Sam very much. He's

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[doneanddoner]

Fred makes a mad dash for the coffee shop as soon as she sees the sign.

She's been out without gloves on - or a hat, for that matter - which explains why her cheeks are pink, her glasses are slightly fogged, and she's rubbing her hands together the moment she ducks inside.

[afraidofxena]

Gunn's at the counter by now, buying another drink. Living in LA all his life, not to mention being dirt poor most of the time, didn't really give him a lot of opportunities to appreciate things like hot cocoa.

He hands the barista his money, then turns and sees Fred. "Hey," he greets her, smiling a little. Then, noticing her bare hands and head, he teases, "Man, I thought I was unprepared for this kind of weather."

[doneanddoner]

"Always nice to see a familiar face," she murmurs, reaching up to polish her glasses on the sleeve of her coat.

"Well, you seem to have found a pretty handy way of warmin' up."

[afraidofxena]

"Best damn hot chocolate in the city," Gunn says. "Or, I guess it might be. First I've ever really had, but it's good."

He thanks the barista for his drink, then turns back to Fred. "You been okay?"

[doneanddoner]

"Yeah," Fred says. "Relatively speakin'. I mean, there was that whole bit of business with those nasty plagues, and that was all kind of awful, but then it was Christmas, and that's always kinda a nice way to start things over again."

She pauses in her brief babbling.

"I mean, there's a couple'a people I still haven't seen, and I'm kinda worried about them, but I'm tryin' to be optimistic."

[afraidofxena]

Gunn lets her babble, since it's kind of cute and he hasn't seen her in a while, anyway.

"Yeah," he says. "Those plagues were somethin' else. Never thought I'd get to see a white Christmas, though."

He looks slightly concerned, then, at Fred's mention of that. "Everything all right?"

[doneanddoner]

"Guess there's a first time for everythin', right?"

She shrugs one shoulder, looking a little sheepish.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just overreactin'. But I haven't really seen Mat at all since his brother died, and I know he needs time to grieve. It's just - I worry about him."

[afraidofxena]

Gunn gives her a quizzical look, although it gets kind of mixed up in one of sympathy. "Sorry to hear that," he says. "You know, I..." he clears his throat. It's been a long time since he thought of his sister, and it only takes him a second to remember how he was after she died.

"That kind of thing can be hard," he says after a minute, rubbing self-consciously at his neck. "You tried talking to him at all?"

[doneanddoner]

"That would sorta require knowin' where he is," Fred admits, trying her hardest not to wring her hands or start reciting equations the way she does sometimes to calm her nerves.

"Which I really don't."

[afraidofxena]

"Oh."

Before Gunn says anything else, he turns to the counter to buy Fred a hot chocolate as well. Her hands could probably use warming up, anyway, and it'll give her something to do with them.

Then he motions toward a table for them to sit down.

"You got any idea where to start looking?" Gunn did help run a detective agency once, after all. Sort of. He could help. Maybe.

[doneanddoner]

"I suppose it's likely he'd be back in his apartment by now," Fred guesses. "Or maybe hangin' around Buffy. She's his ward, after all, so he can't really go too far from where she is."

She wraps her hand around the hot chocolate as it comes, waiting for it to warm her hands before she takes a sip of it to warm her insides.

[afraidofxena]

"You could always go by and check," Gunn suggests. "I bet he's dyin' to see you."

Gunn's a little acquainted with this world's version of angels, thanks to his first night here, but he hasn't had any of it explained to him in detail.

"Buffy's his what?"

He doesn't bother to ask if it's the same Buffy he met in the diner a while back; he highly doubts more than one person in Chicago has a name like that.

[doneanddoner]

"His ward," Fred says, almost overenunciating the word for a little effect.

"Mat - he's a guardian angel. Wings and everythin'. And Buffy - well, she's kinda the person he's charged with protectin', but maybe if I start lookin' for her, I can find him. There's this whole proximity rule that applies between guardian angels and their wards."

[afraidofxena]

"Huh," Gunn says. "Didn't figure someone like Buffy needed protectin'. From what I've heard, she's pretty capable."

Not that Gunn had a chance to see the Slayer in action, but Cordy sure liked to tell stories.

[doneanddoner]

"Oh, I don't know. I don't really think she had that much choice in the matter," Fred admits. "Anyone could have themselves a guardian angel. You could, I bet, and you're one of those capable kinds'a people."

She takes a small sip of hot chocolate, the lenses of her glasses fogging up in the process.

[afraidofxena]

"Yeah?" Gunn asks. It sounds a little weird to him, but maybe it's not so bad, having someone else looking out for you all the time.

Gunn chuckles a little, then takes another drink from his own hot chocolate. "Well, so you've got somewhere to start. That's not so bad."