2415/Homecoming

Homecoming
Date of Scene:	11 September 2017
Location:	Winchester Apartment
Synopsis:	Dean returns from Virginia. Fred attempts to apologize, but it does not go well.
Cast of Characters:	Winifred Burkle, Dean Winchester

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Winifred Burkle has posed:
It has been a few days since the rescue of Claire. Since that time, Fred has been staying at the Winchester apartment. She's close to being better, close to being able to leave the apartment, but the visions from the Hydra compound have left her practically unable to leave the apartment. Sam has been incredibly supportive, but also has to accommodate becoming a member of SHIELD - something she understands and supports.

For now, Fred revels in baby steps. She's left Sam's room and is now at the apartment at large. This is still a place she feels safe, now. The devil traps, the place that this is where both Sam and Dean live? She can put her pieces back together here.

For now, that means eating Chinese food leftovers from the cartoon underneath the kitchen table by one of the windows. The blanket from Sam's bed is wrapped around her. If one wouldn't know any better, she looks like a middle schooler taking time off from classes due to a sick day. However, she is no longer writing on walls, she has ventured forth. This is progress for Fred.

Dean Winchester has posed:
The jingle of the keys in the door signals that it's being unlocked and someone who has keys is trying to get inside. The handle to the door turns, and a familiar figure lingers in the doorway.

Dean Winchester looks worse for wear. He's bloodied. A deep gash along the side of his face is likely to scar. His clothes are drenched in his own blood. His skin has paled and his eyes are shadowed by long creases that demonstrate fatigue. He doesn't look good.

A glance is given to the floor and Dean eyes the carpet. "...Sam?" he calls gruffly. Only to see the figure under the table eating Chinese. Who is not Sam. His lips quirk into a frown. "Sam here?"

Winifred Burkle has posed:
From underneath the table, Fred perks. She assumes this is Sam. Dean hasn't been home in quite awhile. However, as Dean enters the apartment bloodied and looking the worse for wear, she puts the Chinese food carton down and scrambles upward. The blanket remains wrapped around her shoulders, but she pays it little mind other than to ensure that it doesn't fall.

"No, Sam had to go do something with SHIELD," Fred explains. It doesn't take a genius to see the fatigue, the shadows under Dean's eyes. "What happened?" she asks, apprehensive. The last time they talked they did not end on the best of circumstances. "Are you okay?"

Clinging the blanket closer to her, she takes a step forward to try and help Dean. No matter the words said between them, he is Sam's brother. She knows how much he means to the man she loves. "Look, I'm sure you're still mad at me, but I'm sorry. For all of it. Let me help you. At least until Sam comes back."

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean doesn't move into the room. He's still in the doorway staring at the floor that he's exposed with the movement of the carpet. Dean frowns as he scrubs his face. "I went for a walk," he answers vaguely. "A long walk," he offers as clarification. His lips curve upwards grimly. "I just need to see Sam," he repeats without treading into the space.

He emits a long sigh. "I'm fine," he finally adds. "Had a court date in Virginia. Remember?" There's nothing warm or kind about Dean's face. Each corner itches with vague irritation that Sam isn't here. His nostrils flare and his hands remain stiff at his sides. "I should probably go... left Jo downstairs." His lips twist to the side and he considers something. "Could use a glass of water though," his eyes glimmer with... is it hope?

Winifred Burkle has posed:
Dean remains outside. With the way that Fred and Dean left their friendship last, it's not exactly like she can blame him. They both yelled, he drove off, a brunette man was in the passenger seat. "A walk?" she looks at him, confused. The blanket wraps about her even still. "You've been gone for almost a week---what happened?"

However, then he brings up the court date in Virginia. They did talk about that and that he wouldn't tell Sam, that he didn't want /her/ to tell Sam. Things start to piece together. A narrowed look is given to Dean. "You two just need to start /talking/ to each other," she tells Dean.

Though she's worried, she goes to the tap and gets a glass of water. As she does so, she asks a few questions. "How'd that go" The court date. She's used to the general rules she knows: you need to invite evil in order for it to harm you. And so, she stays on one end of the doorway and hands Dean the glass of tap water.

Dean Winchester has posed:
The question of //what happened// causes Dean's expression to change. There's something ironic in the expression. It's pleased. Too pleased. "John Winchester happened. He was here." There's a pause and he repeats: "Look I need to talk to Sam." He sniffs loudly. "I went for a walk." There. "And I picked up Jo. At the Roadhouse. Again. And I need to talk to Sam."

His eyes narrow and he stares blandly at her. Thankfully he accepts the glass of water. He brings it to his lips and takes a single sip. His lips quirk and he nods once. His nose wrinkles. "Thanks. Fred." His smile turns nearly sinister and he lifts a single hand in thanks.

He slides into the edge of the room, actually tripping as he does so, splashing the black symbol he's exposed not he floor. "Tired. Makes me clumsy." His eyebrows draw together and his eyes scan the walls. "So. You move in?" His chin lifts, "Wouldn't be surprised. Sammy needs you more than me now. Doesn't need his big brother at all anymore. Big brother is nothing but a third wheel in an apartment he doesn't even belong."

Winifred Burkle has posed:
"John Winchester? Another family member?" Fred looks at Dean with a confused and curious look. She stays on this side of the doorway, watching Dean very closely. "I see." She does not know the name of Jo or the Roadhouse. Instead, she stands inside the doorway of the Winchester apartment, watching as Dean does not enter. In the back of her mind, that rings as something strange. Dean barged in and accused her of trespassing.

However, then, he falls forward, spilling the water on the floor and apologizing. Things start to fall into place - especially him telling her that Sam needs her more than he needs his brother. Suspicion is pushed to the side. This is a worry that she has waited to have happen for awhile.

As Dean starts to trip, Fred reaches forward to catch him. "Are you okay?" she asks. The blanket slips from one shoulder, but she is focused on Dean now. "Move in? No." She blushes. "I've just---I just needed to stay for a bit." Fred frowns, looking at Dean. "What are you talking about? Sam definitely needs you. I just...I just needed a place to stay for a little bit."

Dean Winchester has posed:
"Typical," Dean offers with a wry mirthless smile. "It's how it starts. First an apartment. Then a girlfriend. Then a girlfriend moving into the apartment." He shoots her another stiff never-meets-his-eyes-smile. "There isn't room here enough for all of us." There's nothing in the smile that suggests Dean should ever smile or that he's ever experience real joy. Sadism, however, exists in droves.

That feline edge turns up higher as he trails around the edge of the room. "I'm going to pack some things," he states as his eyes scan the expanse of the space. Again, he glances towards the floor. He treads towards his room and disappears through the door.

Moments later he returns with a small bag on his back. Slowly, he tugs the amulet from around his neck, and, with a smirk, he offers it to Fred, hesitating just a moment before holding it out. "Guess it's yours now, kid."

Winifred Burkle has posed:
"Typical?" Fred starts to follow Dean about the apartment, a bit like someone completely unsure of what is going on, unsure of her place in the situation and is attempting to find out what is going on. "I'm---I haven't moved in." There's a bit of panic in her voice. What if Sam thinks Dean moved out because of her? What if she is the reason for the fight between the brothers? She can't handle that right now. She knows how much Dean means to Sam. If Sam was forced to choose between them, she assumes he would pick Dean and she is not even angry about that. It just fills her with a sense of dread.

"No, but, there is." There's a desperation as Fred attempts to block Dean from packing and leaving entirely. "Dean, look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what I said to you at the Crossroads. I was worried about Sam and I thought you might do something horrible that Sam might regret."

She's aware that Sam might not have seen Dean yet, that she is the barrier that will help ensure Sam sees his brother again soon. "No, it's not mine. Dean, /please/ please don't leave." She pleads, she can't help it. Sam had done so much for her. "I'm sorry, how can I make this right?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
"Keep it. It's not mine either," he replies coldly. "Sammy doesn't get a say in what I do," Dean replies evenly. He treads to the counter and plucks the phone that's been waiting there for weeks. "Never has." His head tilts to the side as the phone gets pocketed--put away for safe-keeping.

He'll probably have to check the messages. For a lot of messages.

That sadistic smile pulls at Dean's features again, "You can't make it right, Fred. Not even a little. It's already broken. Only came back for the phone. And my stuff," his eyebrows lift expectantly. "I'll get more later after Jo and I figure out what we're doing."

His head turns towards the door. "If Sam wants to talk to me, tell him can call. I'm doing what I was meant to. Getting on the road again." But there's something in Dean's eyes that remains unspoken. Something weirdly convinced of some not-yet-revealed truth. "I tried this life for awhile, but it's not for me. And we all know he finds the life I lead so vile. I tried it his way. I don't belong here. I'm going to bide time until eternity knocks."

Winifred Burkle has posed:
Fred isn't willing to let the pendant drop. Instead, she catches it, clutches it to her. Confused, worried, she clutches it to her chest, the leather cord falling down in front of her. "I'm not Sam," she tells him. That's true in both just true fact as well as her attempt to keep Dean to pack up and leave. "He's not trying to make you do anything."

Him and Jo. That name again. Fred remembers it, but is unsure as to how to bring it up. "I'm not..." no, that is a lie, she is trying to make it right. "It's not broken."

Shaking her head, she follows Dean, intent on stopping him. "No. You got this place for a reason. You're /here/ for a reason," she tells him. "It's more than just a phone." Why isn't Sam here? He'd do this better. Is this all her fault?

"He doesn't find that life vile. Dean...please." As he makes his way to leave, she reaches out to snatch him, try to grab him before he leaves. "I"m sorry. I am. I didn't mean..."

Dean Winchester has posed:
"All members of my family try to make me do a lot of things," Dean challenges in return. "All of them." His lips purse. "Except mom." His eyebrows tick upwards at that. Mom will always be special thanks to her untimely death. It's interesting how death does that.

The mention of being here for a reason makes Dean's smile turn downright feline. "I got it to service some pipe dream that I could adjust to this life. I can't. The road is where I belong. The road is what I want. And the road wants me. I'm here right now for my shit. I'll be back again for more shit." He actually shrugs at that.

His eyes roll at the mention of Sam not finding the life vile. "He did. And he does. He finds every single place he can to avoid it, to quit it, and to embrace something... normal. But we're not normal, Fred. We never were. Never will be. I can't pretend to be something I'm not anymore." And then as he traipses to the door, he adds, "Even if Sam can. He can pretend all he wants. But he doesn't belong here either. Mark my words."

Winifred Burkle has posed:
"Sam's the only member of the family that I've seen," Fred retorts. Defiantly, but ineffectively, she pulls the draping blanket back up over her other shoulder and holds it against her. She is defiant, determined, but ultimately looks like a teenager playing at the grown ups game with her hair in two messy braids and the blanket wrapped about her.

"If that's true, why do you keep talking about Jo?" She shoots, taking a leap. She doesn't know Dean very well, but she remembers the phone calls and the fact that he as brought up this person twice in their conversation. While still scarred, she is a smart woman.

There's a recoil in Fred at Dean's insults. Sam tries to set down roots wherever he can. He wants normal, wants a steady life. The sting of those words prick her right in her heart. However, while the tears spring to her eyes, she tells Dean with as much conviction as she can manage, "I'm not normal." After all, he did enter the room with her eating Chinese food under a kitchen table.

However, there is a kernel of truth she can feel there. The fact that the brothers must always be on the move, that they want a place to stay but cannot settle down. Is that why he keeps things from. her? No. That is what she attempts to fight against.

Dean Winchester has posed:
"Because Jo is along for the ride," Dean answers flatly. "I've got a year. I bought some more time, but everyone knows I won't stay Crowley's," he doesn't even hesitate to say the name, "bitch long. Just long enough for him to destroy whatever is left of my soul." He smirks at that as if it's some hilarious joke. "So yeah, Jo knows how much time I have. She knows what a shit human being I am. That this vessel has become emptier and emptier with each passing year. And that I have the most goddamned thankless job in the country."

"You're as vanilla as they come, sweetheart," he replies to her assertion that she's not normal. The conviction doesn't matter. The words are invalidated almost immediately. "So yeah. Keep the amulet. Tell Sammy to call if he wants to talk more about this, or really," his nose wrinkles, "anything. Okay, pumpkin?" his head cants to the side and he studies her from the frame of the door once again.

Winifred Burkle has posed:
Along for the ride. What does that mean? Fred knows little of Dean, but she knows how much Sam loves and is willing to sacrifice for him. Something rebels, but then the rationalization of Dean sets in. He has a year to live it up. He is defying Crowley. //Crowley//. Finally. She has a name. She says nothing on that, pulling the blanket around her all the more tightly.

Maybe she is vanilla. Sam had quite an eventful childhood. His first girlfriend was a sort of fox. Everything after that dealt with ghosts and demons. A woman out of a portal could simply be old hat. Who knows. All her hang ups did not seem to be a surprise. Perhaps she is vanilla, as Dean says. They might have dealt with a hundred damaged women from hell dimensions.

On another day, at a different time, perhaps Fred would be feistier, more willing to engage. After the events of the Hydra base, however, some parts of her remained locked away. As such, she holds on to the pendant and watches as Dean leaves, his parting insult, the pet name of 'pumpkin' hanging in the air between them.

She watches Dean leave, unsure of what to say. Instead, her face closes off and she shifts backward, toward another dark and safe place within the apartment.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean shoots Fred another self-satisfied smile, far too pleased with himself. The smug reflection in his eyes and taut nature of his expression suggest he's extremely happy with what happened here. Or he's just that good at bluffing. The door closes behind him with a long creak as he calls, "Enjoy your solitude. Just you and the walls."

But even as the swagger of Dean's body speaks to some outward delight, somewhere within the depths of his mind, Dean Winchester is screaming.