Owner	Pose
Winifred Burkle	It has been a little while since the ragged crew limped their way into the South Dakota arm of SHIELD. Fred stayed with her parents exclusively until she learned that her father would pull through and that her mother woke up. There were quite a few tears and apologies on either side, both attempting to tell the other it was not the other's fault. It was strangely reminiscent of their reunion after her return from Pylea. It's a little while after that, however, that she feels comfortable to leave her parents' room. The demon's ward pendant that Sam gave her is secure over her father's neck. That with the Sharpie drawings should ensure his safety. Her own temporary tattoo is sharply visible on her wrist. The physicist has a very specific destination in mind now and has asked Sam to stay with her parents - still not quite willing to leave them alone - as she takes care of something. That something becomes crystal clear when there is a knock on the door to Dean's room. Then, it slowly opens and only the head of Fred peeks through. "Hey Dean?" Her voice is soft, trying not to disturb, but wanting to disturb. "It's Fred. Gotta second? Or, really, more than a second. This is already more than a second and is this. That could go on awhile. What I really mean is, can you talk for a little bit?"
Dean Winchester	Dean is probably supposed to be resting. He should be asleep. He should be happily hooked up to the IV that SHIELD insisted he be on. Instead? He's pacing the room. He doesn't have the wherewithal to sit still. He'd spent days with someone else controlling his mind. And he doesn't want to lie dormant anymore. Instead he wants activity; he longs for it. He's already disappeared from his room for an extended period of time wherein he went drinking with his brother and then found a quiet corner with Jo. He's got priorities, there's no question. His wellbeing just isn't one of them. He perks at the sound of his name, turning towards the door when she asks the question. "...hey." There's an awkwardness to the greeting and a stilted turn to the word. "Uh. Yeah. Come in. It's not..." he runs his hand through his hair. "I mean, it is," he shrugs, "what it looks like. I'm not sleeping or anything. Unless this is a dream, in which case dreams are no longer going in the direction expected."
Winifred Burkle	Awkwardness is certainly something that Fred understands. That's generally how she lives her life. Once he doesn't tell her to get out or to get lost, she slips inside and shuts the door behind her. "Thanks." She has half expecting him to send her away or to ignore her. The fact that he's invited her in is already a better start to the conversation. That gives her a little bit more of a steady position, whatever that means. His stopping and starting sentence is met with a slight tilt of her head. For that moment, she looks almost like a bird that has heard a call she knows. If Fred knows anything it is that things don't look like what they might be."What's it not look like?" She's not even sure. Then, he explains. "Oh! I can help you figure that out!" Stepping forward, she attempts to pinch him quickly on the arm. Then, she pinches herself. "Look, I'm certainly not dreaming. Are you? Pinching's what gets you out of it."
Dean Winchester	Dean squints at Fred when she pinches him. "Ow!" he's been possessed, cut, and generally damaged, but he complains at the pinching. His lips hitch up on one side into a crooked smile. "...thanks." They quirk again into something far easier. It's his grifter's smile. Practiced. Together. Everything about it might fool most skeptics. He motions for a chair. "If you want to sit, feel free." With a shrug he takes a single step back towards the bed, but opts to continue pacing instead. He shakes his head and then falls into paces again. "So." He can feel his lips tighten. "What's up?" There's another pause. "I mean... besides the obvious." His lips turn down again.
Winifred Burkle	As Dean squints at her, Fred pulls her hand back quickly and sheepishly says, "Sorry!" She's not, really, though. She's helping! The thanks is met with a matching grifter smile. It's not meant to put Dean at ease, instead it is just a smile to show that she means him no ill will while not actually being in the best mood. Fred isn't most skeptics. She not even most people due to her years in a Hell Dimension. But she will take Dean's smile at mostly face value. As much as she takes anything from Dean at face value right now. It's not the words Alistair made him say that leaves Fred wary, it's what Dean - unpossessed - told her at the Crossroads that keeps her on the wary side. "I'm okay," she says to the seat. Instead, she doesn't pace but stands nearby the door. A hand reaches up to her collar bone and she touches something there before pulls the cord around her neck and pulls it out from under her shirt. It's the necklace that Alistair as Dean gave Fred. "I just...I came here to give you this back. It's yours."
Dean Winchester	The smile fades. The chain causes Dean's every muscle to sag. Everything about him enters a temporary state of defeat. It's been a trying few days and as much as he's insisted he remembers nothing, he remembers all of it. Every detail wears on him. He nods towards her as he reaches out his hand to accept the amulet back again. He inhales a long breath and he can feel a dull ache in the centre of his chest. His jaw tightens. "...thanks." His hand rubs the back of his neck. And then, finally, he tugs the cord over his neck. "Wasn't sure where it went," he lies easily while he eyes narrow. "Glad that someone still had it and it wasn't lost to the road or something. Demons are bastards."
Winifred Burkle	Fred can see the reaction the pendant has on Dean. This is not what Fred expected. She thought Dean would be very happy to see the pendant again. It was in a safe place. Maybe he would be upset that Sam gave it to her instead of keeping it himself, but she wasn't expecting such a reaction. Thought Dean is quite a grifter, such a violent reaction is something even Fred cannot misread. "Of course. It's yours," she reiterates. "I'm sorry I had it so long and, you know, like that. Sam told me how it was a gift to you." And how the fact that it was used against Dean must hurt him. Demons are bastards, Dean says. "Yeah. They are." Fred frowns, trying to bring up things, not sure how to do so. "They..." she closes her eyes. "I had this rabbit. My dad gave it to me when I was a weird kid. And then he gave it back after I came from Pylea. They..." she swallows. "It means a lot to me, that rabbit. They tried to tell me...they tried to make it..." She doesn't know what Dean is going through, what he remembers, what he doesn't. Her mother seemed to remember some horrible things. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep it. I know how much it means to the both of you."
Dean Winchester	There's a lot of silence when Fred explains herself. Dean maintains that quiet when she speaks her truth. And it's only once he's convinced she's done that Dean speaks this time. "It's all lies you know," he knows the irony of his lie. "Demons, they twist something they know people care about and turn it into a lie." A flicker of a smile follows, "Probably best you know that now instead of down the road." He inhales a long breath. "Whatever they said about your rabbit is bullshit. It had enough truth to make it plausible, but they tried to destroy you with it. It's what they do." He actually shrugs at that. "They mine people's thoughts and use their own energies against them. Any fleeting thought or incline? A demon can exploit it." "And you don't need to apologize about keeping it for awhile. Like I said, just glad it wasn't lost to the road or something." He sniffs again. "It's fine. Honestly. I hadn't been without it in a long stretch is all. Get used to things like that, I think."
Winifred Burkle	"Is it?" Fred asks Dean, both hopeful and skeptical when he tells them it's all lies. "I get that." Without either necklace about her neck now, she idly crosses her arms and rubs her arm. "That's good." Unable to help herself, she asks, "So, you don't think I replaced you, right?" Fred is not exactly the most subtle person. Sometimes she can drag that out of her, can keep things hidden. On matters like this? She can't. She's an open book. "My dad didn't think I was pathetic and gave me Feigenbaum because I couldn't make friends?" There are so many tiers of her question here. "Sorry, I'm..." this isn't fair to Dean. She shouldn't be asking this. "No, sorry, ignore me." She shakes her head, looking up at him, searching, trying to find the truth of this situation. "Are you? After everything? You're okay?" A tilt of her head again, perhaps not getting the context. "You get used to being possess by demons who try to use your family and relationships?" She's not being facetious, she is truly trying to understand. %
Dean Winchester	"Normally," Dean replies in earnest for once. "There's truth in what they say, but it's not The Truth. Not properly, anyways." He manages a vague smile while he mirrors her posture, crossing his arms over his chest. But the pointed question causes Dean's smile to falter some. "I don't know what he said to you," he lies, "but a lot of things replaced me in Sammy's life." There's nothing angry about the words, just the strange truth of the matter. "It wasn't all at once." The smile tightens, becoming guarded. "There might be an iota in the lie, but we do things for people we love because we love them. Not for some vindictive purpose. Demons just twist it." His lips purse. "I'm fine. I'm dehydrated, exhausted, and starved, but I'm fine." He tacks on, "I don't remember anything. There's different kinds of possession. Sometimes a demon wants the host to see it all. Other times? Nothing. They go dormant in their own minds. I'm happy to say I was the latter." The last has his eyebrows lifting, "No. This is the first time I've ever been possessed, Fred. Don't intend it to happen again."
Winifred Burkle	"Ah. Okay. I think I get that." Fred's eyebrows crease as she thinks it through. It's not that she doesn't actually get it, nor does she think Dean is lying to her. She has little experience when it comes to possession. She knows that it happens and that a demon can walk around in a dead body and that a person can prevent a possession with a symbol. The specifics? The nitty gritty? That's all things she's still learning. "That's just it. I don't think anything could replace you." Fred's own voice is similar to Dean's. There's no anger or sadness there, just an observation as she's seen it. She knows how important Dean is to Sam as fact, she knows how important Sam is to Dean through his actions. When he says that he's fine, she can't help but give a soft shake of her head. "Y'know, Sam says that a lot, too. How he's fine." And that generally means he's not fine. With a frown, she looks a bit to the side, shifting topics just slightly, though keeping on the same subject. "I think my parents remember. What happened. They've been...it's been hard for them. I think they feel guilty. Which is funny, I guess, 'cause I'm the one that feels guilty about getting them into this and not telling them just what they could be getting into. They knew about things, before. But nothing like this."
Dean Winchester	Undeniably, there's an air of skepticism at Fred's assertion. Dean's vision cuts downwards. His eyes hone in on the floor in front of him as he nearly bashfully turns downwards. He takes a step back, and seems to use the moment as an opportunity to tread back towards his bed. Which he sits on. That's the reason his vision moved at all. Slowly, in a near-defence, with all the markers of it, his arms cross lightly over his chest. "I'm not so convinced," he finally offers. "Look, I know Sam cares. It's not like..." his head turns towards the window. "...like I think he's forgotten about me." He finally attempts to meet Fred's gaze again. "But history and time suggest things won't be like they used to." He shrugs. He's trying to make light of that. Whether Fred believes or not, it's the story he's sticking to. Dean hums at the mention of Fred's parents. "Just remind them that they didn't do the things that their occupants did. They couldn't have stopped it. They couldn't have prevented it. It just was." His eyebrows lift and he shoots Fred a faint smile. "And don't feel guilty either. This one's on me." He shrugs at that. "A demon took up residence and took what they wanted. Your parents wouldn't have been on the radar if not for my brain. Just sayin'."
Winifred Burkle	Fred's chin turns back to Dean as she sees him move back to the bed to sit out of the corner of her eye. Her head tilts just slightly as she takes in what he's saying. "Maybe it'll be different. I don't know. I don't really know what it was like before, though I've heard a bit about it." A lot of Sam's past is talked about in snippets and glimpses of the open road, a neglectful father and a watchful brother. "And if you'd've seen how worried he was on our way here...I dunno. I think you'd see." See what? It's hard to put into words, but she's hoping it gets across. The advice is taken with her own shrug of her shoulders. The messy braids her hair is currently pulled into jostle just slightly. "Then it's really not your fault, either. Only way they couldn't have gotten something is if you didn't have a brain." It's not an insult, nor is it joke, even. It's her attempt to be reassuring. Fred reassurance is sometimes very different from everything else. "Sam blames himself for a lotta stuff, too."
Dean Winchester	Dean levels his gaze at Fred. He inhales a long breath. "Yeah, I know Sammy cares. I do." His lips twitch into a smile. "He's my brother. We only really had each other," increasingly it's a fact that Dean can't deny. John wasn't there. Isn't there. "So it's not like I think he doesn't care." He sucks on the inside of his cheek, "It's that the things he cares about shift. Maybe that's true for everyone, but it's..." he pauses to think of the right word. Instead of finding it, he lands on, "...something," not at all descriptive, "to be in the shuffle. You're an only child, right? I think it's probably what parents experience when the nest clears." He shrugs at that. The last warrants a tight smile. "Nah. I knew better. Your parents didn't. You didn't. I also pushed hard on this case when I probably should've talked to Sam or May about it sooner. That's all."
Winifred Burkle	"I know." If Fred knows one thing about the Winchester dynamic for sure, it is how much John Winchester left his children on their own. "Alright." If Dean keeps saying that he knows Sam cares about him, that Fred hasn't replaced him, she'll leave it lie. It's unclear how much she believes him at the moment. The question about being an only child is met with a nod. "Always wanted a brother or a sister, honestly. There's a lot of big families in Texas and I was always just..." she can hear her father say what she's about to in that sneering tone. There's not exactly a bitter laugh, but the short 'ha' that comes out of her mouth has no humor. "...lonely." Moving away from that, she shrugs. "Probably a part of growing up, yeah. My parents didn't want me to move to LA, thought I was gonna get taken in by a cult or something. Instead, I fell into a portal. Then, they didn't want me to stay in New York at the Hyperion and they got possessed. Things might've been a lot easier for them if I'd listened." As for knowing better, she shakes her head. "They didn't, but I did. Y'know, when I met Sam, I was working a case on a possession. I didn't really know much about these kinds of demons, but I had one of Wesley's big Latin books. Saw what they could do firsthand and I didn't tell my parents 'cause I thought it'd worry them. So, I did know better. I think just 'cause we know better doesn't really mean much. I know better than to forget to include units in my equations, but I'll still do it every now and again." A situation that she is sure to be relatable to Dean.
Dean Winchester	Dean can feel the weight on his shoulders at the mention of feeling lonely. It's a sensation he knows well. He can't talk about it. Won't talk about it. But loneliness has been his friend since Sam left. The Impala wasn't worth the price of admission. Fatherly pride wasn't worth his own ghosts. But despite all of the heaviness he feels, it translates into that same grifter's smile. His head ducks towards her. "Changes things," is what he lands on. "People grow up. Been told they move on. Eventually everyone leaves," Zachariah's words have been seared into his mind. Everyone will leave him. That's his lot in life. Getting attached, even to family, has no merit. His eyebrows draw together, he clears his throat, and shakes his head to lose the thought. Mostly it looks like he's getting fatigued. It's fortunate. He casts a glance at Fred and nods. "Yeah, but I should've been wearing something anti-possession. Should've gotten a tattoo years ago." Still afraid of needles. "So. Things." His eyebrows lift. "Just don't wear it." The mention of equations mostly sees his eyebrows knitting together tighter. "Sure. Units." What.
Winifred Burkle	"I don't know if growing up means moving on and leaving. Doesn't for everyone. Know a lot of people who still live in Dallas." Fred doesn't know Zachariah's words or even Dean's own feelings of loneliness without Sam. In fact, she might not even know that the smile he puts on is a fake. The man is good at hiding his emotions to skilled people readers and after five years alone, she is certainly not one of those. She wasn't even one of those before Pylea. She always tended to prefer science and books to close friends and people. Seeing that Dean's starting to get tired, though, she takes a step back toward the door. "Maybe, but I still don't think that means it's on you." Seeing that Dean does understand about the fact that even knowing better doesn't always equate to doing that thing, she gives him a ghost of a smile. Hers, at least, is genuine. She's given back the amulet, she's attempted to talk to Dean. This is one of their conversation that hasn't ended in a fight or in them really arguing with each other. That's a win, right? "I should let you rest. If you need anything, I'm in the room about two down from you with my parents. They'll want to meet you, since we're all gonna be getting tattoos together."
Dean Winchester	A nod follow Fred's word about leaving. Dean does feel tired. Rest would be wise. Plus it'll mean no more talking about whether Fred has replaced him. He hates that Alistair knows he thought that. He hates the Alistair knows how much Zachariah got to him. He's not even sure which is worse: that Zachariah could get to him so easily or that Alistair knows about it. His weaknesses have been laid bare. By his own damned mind. It's a conundrum that he's been wrestling with since he got his brain back. But despite all of this, his lips quirk into a tight smile. "Thanks for," he touches the amulet against his chest. It belongs close to his heart. He swallows hard. "Appreciate it. And thanks for keeping it safe. Just glad it didn't end up somewhere on the highway where I'd never have found it." He shifts on the bed to lay down, lightly lidding his eyes. And as he does so, he can't help but wonder how he became such an unlucky pawn in some battle between heaven and hell.