They didn't exactly get along, but the way Cassie reacted to seeing her with Dean and her pleas for him to stick around still stung. So when her hand slipped out of Dean's, Brooke crossed her arms over her chest and tried to offer him a reassuring smile.
It probably didn't come out very well.
She watched them silently, trying to figure out exactly what it was that made Dean think this was going to work. Sure, Brooke would do everything she could, but she wasn't sure that would be enough. Would she actually be able to give Cassie someone to lean on, someone she could trust enough to actually depend on?
Her thoughts were broken when she heard that last part, her gaze landing on Dean's face. He didn't give her any hope of his return, but he'd promised Cassie that he'd be back? The disappointment and jealousy that flared inside of her was probably written all over her features, but she didn't say anything.
Instead of walking away like part of her wanted to, Brooke turned to lean her back against the wall, eyes focused on some random spot on the opposite side of the hallway.
When she was pulled away from him, Cassie just glared up at him, seething. She wanted to slap him, and wipe that stupid smile right off his face. She knew he was hurting, and that he was trying, but it wasn't going to take away from the fact that she was angry, and needed someone to take it out on. She couldn't do it to Brooke, no matter how much she instinctively distrusted any other female. Brooke so far had been the only one who hadn't up and left, to go off and do their own thing.
So she stood there, her small hands balling up into fists, and she just trembled with anger. She felt the need to yell at him, to yell at someone, anyone that would listen. She wanted to scream out what she had done, to make them understand that they were wasting their time on her. She wanted Sam there to scold her for being hungover and reeking of vodka, and she wanted one of the Claires there to yell at and make fun of. Anything to go back to how it used to be, and it was with a rapidly sinking desperation that she realized that wasn't ever going to happen. So she just glared up at Dean and looked away from him and over to Brooke, keeping it all bottled in.
"You left." She felt the need to point out the obvious reason why she was so upset, as if it actually needed to be. "You left." She became angrier the more she said it out loud, and her fingernails dug into the palm of her hands so roughly that she drew blood.
Dean didn't notice the sting of jealousy written all over Brooke's features, because he was too occupied with the tidal wave of feelings being flung at him. Blank desperation came over his face, mingled with confusion and uncertainty. He'd given her what she'd wanted, hadn't he? Come back? Not left? Sure he couldn't right all the wrongs in the world, but he'd held up his end of the bargain on that, so why did she think he was still gonna jet?
He knew the answer already though, and it hit him like a ton of bricks.
He could still vividly remember being confronted in Heaven by Zachariah and "Mom", having them hurl in his face his own greatest fear: that it was his fault everybody left. That he drove them off.
He knew exactly what those tears were welling up in her eyes, and he gently caught her wrists, hoping she'd get the point to stop drawing blood out of her hands.
"Hey," he said, sternly, moving his head to follow hers so she would look at him. When she didn't, he jerked again so that his face was right in front of her, hardening his tone more: "Hey. None of that. I'm here, and I'm not goin' anywhere. We're not goin' anywhere. We're gonna take care of you. We're gonna be a family."
It was like a litany, one he needed as much for himself as anybody. He'd lost his whole family too; even if he hadn't lost some of them yet, he was about to, because he couldn't be a part of their world anymore. He was done with it.
Cassie would be an exception, because... he couldn't leave her.
Brooke glanced over, wanting to back up Dean on what he was saying, but she had the same fears as Cassie did. She was terrified that the moment she got comfortable, he'd up and leave again, only this time she'd have to keep an eye on Cassie, too.
As she searched Cassie's face, something clicked inside of her; she realized that she couldn't let her fears control her. At least, not in front of Cassie. She needed strength and support, and Brooke didn't know if she could do that, but she'd sure as hell try.
She already knew that agreeing to this wasn't something she was going to take lightly.
"We can tie him to a chair if it'll make you feel better," she said, hoping it would lighten the mood even though her tone wasn't exactly cheery.
When she pushed off the wall, Brooke noticed the blood coming from Cassie's hands. Without saying another word, she walked down the hallway and into the bathroom to grab some peroxide and bandages.
It was hard for Cassie to look at Dean, hard for her to be ready to admit that she could trust him. She had trusted Gabriel with everything, and he had just left her like she was some kind of wasted attempt at a family. She was afraid that both Dean and Brooke would eventually think the same thing to. But after everything, and through all of her emotions, she was just tired. She didn't want to fight Dean, because she didn't want to push him away. So when he made her look at him, she reluctantly did so, her expression skittish and unsure of his promise.
Then Brooke joked about tying him to a chair, and she had to admit that the idea wasn't that bad, so she bit at her lip and nodded, maybe a little too eagerly. She waited until Brooke had left for the moment to move back in close to Dean again, and her bloody hands reached up to grab hold of his face. Not all that gently, she jerked his head down toward her, so she could place a kiss to his cheek.
She still wasn't ready to talk about the whole family thing, so she hoped that a gesture she normally wouldn't do to anyone other than her own parents would suffice.
"I think she went to go get rope." She informed him in a halfhearted tease, as she stepped back and away from him. "We have to get you to Bobby's somehow, I guess."
The kiss brought a puzzled look to his face, but it almost warmed his heart slightly, which was a nice reminder that it was still in there somewhere.
Maybe this would all work out somehow, after all.
And if it took the two women in his life bonding over tying him to a chair in order to make it work, he could deal with that.
He released her wrist, letting her ease away without a struggle, but his eyes scraped the floor at the mention of Bobby, as he found himself at the bottom of a hill he had to climb all over again.
"Not goin' back to Bobby's. He's gonna... keep hunting." The silent implication was that Dean wasn't, and he hoped she was sharp enough to pick that much up. He glanced down the hall after Brooke. Eventually he had to explain that to her too - that he was done with that life.
Brooke came out a few moments later, wound cleaning supplies in hand. All she caught of the conversation was keep hunting and her stomach instantly felt like it had dropped to her feet. She wanted to say something, to yell at Dean for saying he'd try to do right by her and then not even an hour later say he was going to keep hunting, but it wasn't the right time.
Her eyes glanced briefly at the blood on his cheek, jaw clenching slightly. Then she looked over at Cassie and did her best to offer the girl a smile as she held up her hands, showing her the supplies.
"Figured we should clean your hands up," she said. It would be just as easy to walk into the bedroom and sit down on the bed, but she gestured over her shoulder. "Kitchen?"
Cassie really just wanted to ball her hands back up into fists and back away from the both of them, but she bit back her need to close herself off and nodded. She couldn't believe that Dean wasn't going to hunt anymore, that he was just going to leave it behind. In Cassie's eyes, Dean was almost like Superman, and hunting made him strong. It was alarming to suddenly have to view him as just a normal guy.
"Maybe we could eat too? I think it's been a couple of days since I've eaten anything." It was her own fault and she shrugged, and proceeded to move in to stand at Dean's side. If he was going to walk, she was going to follow close on his heels.
"You don't have to bandage my hands, either. I'm already hurt worse than my hands ever could be. You can't re-hurt damaged goods."
"Eating," Dean repeated, some cheer leaking into his tone. "Now that sounds like a damn good idea."
Not that he had an extensive appetite right now. But if he didn't force it down, he'd be regretting it, and it was a nice normal step. Easier to pretend that way.
It struck him that he had no idea whether Brooke cooked or not, and his eyes turned towards her.
"We'll bandage her up," he repeated, not letting Cassie's emo crap win this round, "and then you want me to order something or...?"
The cheer in Dean's voice, though good to hear, didn't really do much to quell the worry in Brooke's stomach. Had she really been that focused on Rachel and trying not to think about Dean that she'd missed Cassie not eating?
At least Dean agreed about her needing her hands bandaged.
She glanced over and was about to say yes when she realized that the likelihood of the delivery person being someone she knew - and someone who knew it was Lucas' house - was really high. She really didn't want to have to deal with Lucas drama on top of everything else, so she mentally went through the food they had in the house.
"I think there's a couple boxes of mac and cheese?" she suggested, glancing between Cassie and Dean. "It's not lobster and steak, but it's edible."
"You can't cook." It wasn't a question, but a simple statement, one followed up with a sigh. Great. She was going to starve, not that she was all that hungry lately, anyways. But she had to put on the face of a hungry kid, to make Dean not worry about her, so he'd stick around longer. And maybe Brooke deserved a break too, but she wasn't going to admit that out loud.
"Dean and I can go into town and pick up something." She suggested as she reached up to pull her hair into a ponytail, getting a little of the gooed over blood on her hands into her hair.
"Or even better, I can drive and get it myself. I'm almost old enough for a permit."
It wasn't as if Dean couldn't provide food for himself, but he wasn't a master chef by any stretch of the imagination. Mac and cheese was about the extent of his culinary expertise as well. The boys lived off diner food and the occasional charitable donations of others. It wasn't as if Dean had ever even had a kitchen to call his own to learn in.
"I don't think so," Dean said, realizing Cassie was probably under the illusion she'd be taking his car, which wasn't happening.
Truth was, he didn't even wanna take his car.
He kind of didn't even want to look at her right now, because he couldn't see the place that had been him and his brother's home for most of their lives without thinking of Sam, and having it all hit him all over again.
But he wasn't gonna say that out loud.
"You mind driving?" he asked Brooke. "We can all go hit up the drive thru, bring it back here."
Brooke had tried cooking once and it ended up a disaster. Had she not gotten distracted by Lucas, though, she likes to think that it could've ended up okay. It might not have been the best meal in the world, but it would've at least been edible.
Even if she could cook, though, she wasn't exactly in the mood for it.
"That's fine," she said, figuring that Dean just wanted a break since he had just driven over from wherever he had been. "Let's get your hands cleaned up first, though."
When she passed by Cassie on her way to the kitchen, Brooke caught a whiff of her and had to fight the guilt that suddenly filled her stomach. She had assumed that Cassie would be able to at least be able to take care of the basics considering her age, but she didn't bother taking into account her mental state.
"I think you might want to shower before we go anywhere," she told Cassie as she set everything down on the table. After a moment when she realized how horrible that may have sounded, she added, "You got blood in your hair. It'll dry and get really gross if you don't wash it out."
It probably didn't come out very well.
She watched them silently, trying to figure out exactly what it was that made Dean think this was going to work. Sure, Brooke would do everything she could, but she wasn't sure that would be enough. Would she actually be able to give Cassie someone to lean on, someone she could trust enough to actually depend on?
Her thoughts were broken when she heard that last part, her gaze landing on Dean's face. He didn't give her any hope of his return, but he'd promised Cassie that he'd be back? The disappointment and jealousy that flared inside of her was probably written all over her features, but she didn't say anything.
Instead of walking away like part of her wanted to, Brooke turned to lean her back against the wall, eyes focused on some random spot on the opposite side of the hallway.
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So she stood there, her small hands balling up into fists, and she just trembled with anger. She felt the need to yell at him, to yell at someone, anyone that would listen. She wanted to scream out what she had done, to make them understand that they were wasting their time on her. She wanted Sam there to scold her for being hungover and reeking of vodka, and she wanted one of the Claires there to yell at and make fun of. Anything to go back to how it used to be, and it was with a rapidly sinking desperation that she realized that wasn't ever going to happen. So she just glared up at Dean and looked away from him and over to Brooke, keeping it all bottled in.
"You left." She felt the need to point out the obvious reason why she was so upset, as if it actually needed to be. "You left." She became angrier the more she said it out loud, and her fingernails dug into the palm of her hands so roughly that she drew blood.
"And you're going to leave again, aren't you."
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He knew the answer already though, and it hit him like a ton of bricks.
He could still vividly remember being confronted in Heaven by Zachariah and "Mom", having them hurl in his face his own greatest fear: that it was his fault everybody left. That he drove them off.
He knew exactly what those tears were welling up in her eyes, and he gently caught her wrists, hoping she'd get the point to stop drawing blood out of her hands.
"Hey," he said, sternly, moving his head to follow hers so she would look at him. When she didn't, he jerked again so that his face was right in front of her, hardening his tone more: "Hey. None of that. I'm here, and I'm not goin' anywhere. We're not goin' anywhere. We're gonna take care of you. We're gonna be a family."
It was like a litany, one he needed as much for himself as anybody. He'd lost his whole family too; even if he hadn't lost some of them yet, he was about to, because he couldn't be a part of their world anymore. He was done with it.
Cassie would be an exception, because... he couldn't leave her.
He understood.
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As she searched Cassie's face, something clicked inside of her; she realized that she couldn't let her fears control her. At least, not in front of Cassie. She needed strength and support, and Brooke didn't know if she could do that, but she'd sure as hell try.
She already knew that agreeing to this wasn't something she was going to take lightly.
"We can tie him to a chair if it'll make you feel better," she said, hoping it would lighten the mood even though her tone wasn't exactly cheery.
When she pushed off the wall, Brooke noticed the blood coming from Cassie's hands. Without saying another word, she walked down the hallway and into the bathroom to grab some peroxide and bandages.
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Then Brooke joked about tying him to a chair, and she had to admit that the idea wasn't that bad, so she bit at her lip and nodded, maybe a little too eagerly. She waited until Brooke had left for the moment to move back in close to Dean again, and her bloody hands reached up to grab hold of his face. Not all that gently, she jerked his head down toward her, so she could place a kiss to his cheek.
She still wasn't ready to talk about the whole family thing, so she hoped that a gesture she normally wouldn't do to anyone other than her own parents would suffice.
"I think she went to go get rope." She informed him in a halfhearted tease, as she stepped back and away from him. "We have to get you to Bobby's somehow, I guess."
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Maybe this would all work out somehow, after all.
And if it took the two women in his life bonding over tying him to a chair in order to make it work, he could deal with that.
He released her wrist, letting her ease away without a struggle, but his eyes scraped the floor at the mention of Bobby, as he found himself at the bottom of a hill he had to climb all over again.
"Not goin' back to Bobby's. He's gonna... keep hunting." The silent implication was that Dean wasn't, and he hoped she was sharp enough to pick that much up. He glanced down the hall after Brooke. Eventually he had to explain that to her too - that he was done with that life.
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Her eyes glanced briefly at the blood on his cheek, jaw clenching slightly. Then she looked over at Cassie and did her best to offer the girl a smile as she held up her hands, showing her the supplies.
"Figured we should clean your hands up," she said. It would be just as easy to walk into the bedroom and sit down on the bed, but she gestured over her shoulder. "Kitchen?"
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"Maybe we could eat too? I think it's been a couple of days since I've eaten anything." It was her own fault and she shrugged, and proceeded to move in to stand at Dean's side. If he was going to walk, she was going to follow close on his heels.
"You don't have to bandage my hands, either. I'm already hurt worse than my hands ever could be. You can't re-hurt damaged goods."
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Not that he had an extensive appetite right now. But if he didn't force it down, he'd be regretting it, and it was a nice normal step. Easier to pretend that way.
It struck him that he had no idea whether Brooke cooked or not, and his eyes turned towards her.
"We'll bandage her up," he repeated, not letting Cassie's emo crap win this round, "and then you want me to order something or...?"
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At least Dean agreed about her needing her hands bandaged.
She glanced over and was about to say yes when she realized that the likelihood of the delivery person being someone she knew - and someone who knew it was Lucas' house - was really high. She really didn't want to have to deal with Lucas drama on top of everything else, so she mentally went through the food they had in the house.
"I think there's a couple boxes of mac and cheese?" she suggested, glancing between Cassie and Dean. "It's not lobster and steak, but it's edible."
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"Dean and I can go into town and pick up something." She suggested as she reached up to pull her hair into a ponytail, getting a little of the gooed over blood on her hands into her hair.
"Or even better, I can drive and get it myself. I'm almost old enough for a permit."
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"I don't think so," Dean said, realizing Cassie was probably under the illusion she'd be taking his car, which wasn't happening.
Truth was, he didn't even wanna take his car.
He kind of didn't even want to look at her right now, because he couldn't see the place that had been him and his brother's home for most of their lives without thinking of Sam, and having it all hit him all over again.
But he wasn't gonna say that out loud.
"You mind driving?" he asked Brooke. "We can all go hit up the drive thru, bring it back here."
Yeah, ideal family night.
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Even if she could cook, though, she wasn't exactly in the mood for it.
"That's fine," she said, figuring that Dean just wanted a break since he had just driven over from wherever he had been. "Let's get your hands cleaned up first, though."
When she passed by Cassie on her way to the kitchen, Brooke caught a whiff of her and had to fight the guilt that suddenly filled her stomach. She had assumed that Cassie would be able to at least be able to take care of the basics considering her age, but she didn't bother taking into account her mental state.
"I think you might want to shower before we go anywhere," she told Cassie as she set everything down on the table. After a moment when she realized how horrible that may have sounded, she added, "You got blood in your hair. It'll dry and get really gross if you don't wash it out."
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