who: oz and sophie
where: their house
when: mid afternoon

Sophie had breathed a sigh of relief seeing the news that morning, but hardly dared believe it. This wasn't how it happened - they didn't just 'go away'. At least, they hadn't last time. What had been the difference here? Had more people fought back? Had this been a smaller group? Had there just been something more interesting downstate? She had to smile at that last thought - the idea of a group of bloodthirsty vampires being distracted by something shiny was somewhat amusing, after all. She'd spent the morning on the phone to the insurance company, reporting the fire damage and arranging to have the claim forms emailed to her and now she was in her study, trying not to give herself a headache filling them in as she was asked to explain how the fire had started. In the end she'd gone with 'vandals' and hoped nobody would ask too many questions.

Oz had been assessing things with Billy a little more earlier, and after Dean had returned--then gone and fetched Lullaby and immediately gone to hide in his room, he figured it was around time he had a talk with Sophie about the living situation. What with it probably changing and all. So, he went to find his wife and found her in her study. Walking up behind her, he tugged the hair off of the back of her neck and pressed a soft kiss there. "Busy?" he asked, ticking his gaze to what she was working on. Ahh right. Insurance shit. Which he was soooo not at all taking any part in. She took care of that kind of thing.

"Define 'busy'." Sophie said, leaning back into him and rolling out a kink in her neck. "If you mean 'something I wouldn't love to be distracted from' then, well... Why do I get to do the paperwork again?" she asked, looking round and up at him. She knew the answer, of course, but still - it was as boring as all hell and more akin to writing a story than filing a report when it was something like this. Somehow she thought that putting down 'vampires tried to burn down our house' would more likely get her claim rejected as at best a joke and at worse attempted fraud.

He grinned at her, and reached up to rub at her neck and shoulders. "Because you don't trust me to do anything like this without fucking it up?" he suggested. Then he gave her a light kiss on the lips. "And you'd be right in that assessment?" he added. "I could go on, but I'd like to distract you from it for a while instead. Want to come downstairs with me for a bit? There's some things I think we need to talk about." he said again. His tone suggested though that it for once, was not dire or traumatic.

She returned the kiss before pushing the papers away and standing up. "Sure - anything that means I don't have to finish my current work of fiction is fine. And I could do with a coffee anyhow. And possibly something for this headache I have forming," she admitted as she led the way out of the room and downstairs.

He followed her, keeping in close as he sometimes did, enough so that he had his hand lightly on her lower back as they walked. He glanced back at Dean's door one last time before they headed downstairs and for the kitchen. He paused to get her some tylenol, though, while she got her coffee. "So...I wanted to catch you while I think they're both asleep..." he started. Since he was pretty sure that's what was happening in that room. He couldn't be positive, really. But either it was sleep? Or it was them having a really, really long, engaging staring contest. Where no one could speak. Or move around.

Sophie downed the pills with a sip of her coffee, offering a cup to Oz as she did so. "They...?" she asked, querying that, since there were a couple of options there. Not as many as first thing, but, yeah. "Oh - Sean and Joshua left this morning - Sean said that, considering the news, he'd prefer to have them home again," she mentioned, knowing Oz would want to know.

Oz nodded. "Yeah, I figured. I'm figuring Billy'll light out of here soon too with Maddie. I'm sure they want alone time. I was referring to Dean and Thia, though." he said. He also took the coffee she offered him, and leaned against the counter by the sink. "So...remember when we randomly got landed with a kid?" he said. "Dean kind of plans to land us with another one. So...we'd have two teenagers instead of just the one, one of which is legally deceased."

There was a moment where all Sophie heard was that Dean was landing them with another kid and she internally flailed about the possible implications of that. And then she caught on that it was another teenager, which simplified things up. And then, after she'd got over the initial flail, she had to deal with what he'd actually said. "Sorry - he wants to move her in?" she asked.

"Yeah. I guess so. She's been living in an abandoned house in town." Oz said. "Here, she'd at least be able to move around more. And I just...think he's worried about her. Especially after all of this bullshit." he attempted to explain. While of course leaving his opinions on the matter out of it. He could see why helping her was a good thing to do, he still worried about how Dean was going to deal in general. But the kid could also surprise him. He'd done so before, after all, and generally seemed to get things done or do things in much the same type of manner Oz did himself. So...maybe it'd be fine. Or it could all horribly crash and burn. They'd have to see.

"Yeah, I saw where she'd been living - went with Dean to pick up her stuff, remember? What there was of it, anyhow," Sophie told him, remembering that. There hadn't been much and the girl had been missing some fairly basic essentials - hence Sophie's impromptu shopping trip on her behalf. "But - he wants to move her in here? Hold on - why haven't I heard about this before?" she asked, thinking that really this should have been something that was being discussed between the three of them. Possibly between the four of them. Definitely not just the two of them.

"I don't think Dean quite thinks about these things in the bigger picture sense..." Oz said, trying to put it a little delicately. "I talked to him about it the other day, and it was more he had come to the conclusion, but hadn't thought it out in so many words. So, we talked about it then. I don't know if he's talked to her about it yet--when we had talked, he hadn't. Also, with as much else that's been going on, I'm doubting he's figured there was ever a really good time to sit down and have a rational discussion about adding someone else to the household. What are you thinking about it?"

"I'm thinking I would have preferred to know ahead of time - and that if he was moving someone in that we'd been consulted before he did it," Sophie admitted, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Really, the tylenol could kick in any moment now. Seriously. "Okay, I get that it was fairly spur of the moment and everything but - is this something that's only occurred to him since she's been here, or was this the plan all long?" she asked, since Oz obviously knew a hell of a lot more about this than she did. Which wasn't hard since she knew exactly nothing.

Oz went to sit with her. "I'm thinking it was something on his mind, but not necessarily a full on plan or intent until I brought it up. So I don't think he was deliberately keeping anything from us or anything, it just hadn't quite sank in yet what he was really figuring on doing. I'm also figuring it's something more embedded in his head since she got here. What was the house like? I only saw...the porch and then we were out of there."

"The house was a house, really. Fine, but most of the furniture's gone," Sophie admitted. "And she'd be a sixteen year old girl living on her own. And she didn't - there was hardly anything there for her. A couple of bags at best, no shoes even. And we just walked right in."

"And it's in the middle of town, which means she'd have to stay inside all the time, and not leave, unless she's keen on everyone finding out about her." Oz said. He paused, sipping at his coffee. "We have the room." he put out there, though didn't try to put much inflection on it, because he didn't want to start twisting arms, he wanted to discuss this.

"We do," Sophie agreed, before falling silent for a moment. "Okay, let's look at this logically. Reasons why we should and reasons why we shouldn't. Let's start with the shouldn'ts. Do we really want another teenager in the house? I mean, we're not that much older than them ourselves - this wasn't quite how I imagined us having kids," Sophie began, before leaving the floor open to Oz.

"I still want kids." Oz said first, in an offhand manner. "And she's more talkative than Dean, and eats even less. Out of teenager personality types we could be getting, hers seems alright. She was sweet before, and she still seems sweet. I noticed her helping out around the place when everything was happening. I think she was even helping after she came back from the dead. So...could be worse on that score. She makes Dean smile, which is a feat in and of itself. I don't think we'd be getting a whole lot of opposition from her, or anything like that."

"Okay - we were working on reasons not to let her stay first," Sophie laughed. "Am I gathering from this that you're a fan of the idea? Because, okay, I'll allow that she seems nice and she's definitely been helpful. And - we had a long chat the other day and worked a few things out. She - needs people around her right now. She didn't say as much, but I got that feeling. She needs people who'll understand." Either that or Sophie was just assuming she did because she'd needed that so badly after what she'd gone through at the same age. Needed it and not really got it until it was too late, until she'd returned to England and been taken under her grandmother's wing. She would have coped so much better if she'd just had someone there to give her some prospective.

Oz gave her a little half smirk over his mug as he took another drink. "I know, I wasn't really trying to plead her case so much as point out that I don't think she'll really be a problem teenager." he said. "But I do agree. I think she needs things right now she can't get on her own, and with us..." They were giving people, and if anyone could understand, it was them, pretty much. "We'll understand, out here she doesn't have to stay indoors 24-7, and she's got her best friend. Plus, we kick ass and all. But you know me. I pick up strays here and there, it's a thing. So I want your nice and objective, rational explanation that has nothing to do with my pack mentality."

"Well, not going to be a problem teenager as long as that whole 'I want to talk to you whilst they're sleeping together' thing doesn't get more involved," Sophie pointed out, lightly. Since they'd only just had the girl's boyfriend move out and everything. And, even if they hadn't, yeah, there were still issues to be considered there. "And I know you pick up strays, dear. Okay - on the plus side, it's not like we can't afford it. And she wouldn't be that much trouble. And if it's true and she can actually get some life out of my baby cousin then that's a miracle I've not seen before and might be worth it just for the novelty factor. On the downside, well the major one would be what happens if they fall out - two sixteen year olds, in the same house? It could be asking for trouble. And then there's the issue of what she is. And if there's any potential danger from that."

"That girl is oblivious," Oz said first. "Trust me. She has no clue. I'm not sure how that's possible? But yeah. So...no idea there, though I agree as well." he added. "I already figured about the possibility of them falling out. If they have one, then we'll look at it then. Maybe see if we can work out someplace else for her to go, because Dean's the priority. As for what she is...there's that book, we can start reading up. Though I don't know. That angel was fairly overprotective and he put up with being around her and having his charge around her. I know he took the book first thing. And if it does mean she's dangerous, we can figure something out there too. Especially if she doesn't want to be. I mean...it's not like we're strangers to that." He smirked at her. "It is pretty funny though." he added, having to say it. "I think I've seen more animation in that kid in the past few days than all the time combined, and usually it's all directly due to her. Granted, sometimes it's been of the not good variety, but...apparently? He does have the ability to smile. It's crazy."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "You'll be telling me next that he has the ability to string more than two sentences together without grunting in the middle," she teased. "And okay, so she's oblivious, but he's not - so let's watch that because sooner or later she's going to notice, or he's going to make her notice. And yeah, he's definitely our priority - I don't think there's any argument about that. So, agreed on finding a fall back for her. And figuring more out about what she is."

"I have actually managed to have long, rather involved conversations with him over the past few days." Oz said with a mock-gasp. "Occasionally I really kind of wonder when I got to be his dad or something." Since that's what it seemed like. Not that he was complaining per se, but still. It had happened somewhere along the line and he wondered why and how it had come about. "So...alright then, anything else that needs deciding or discussing on that? You know I'll know if anything sort of...gets to a new level between them." What with creepy werewolf senses kicking in.

"Wow, who stole Dean and put a pod person in his place? Fine, sure - so she's a positive influence on him. I'll allow that. I'll be wanting to set some ground rules though, mostly for her. If she's going to stay here then she's going to have to be willing to do some things. I won't just have her be at a loose end, or treating this place like a hotel." Not that she actually thought that would be a problem after what she's seen of the girl, but possibly she'd just been on her best behaviour lately.

"Whatever groundrules you want to put into place, go for, Sunshine." Oz said. "I'll back you on any of them. Though...giving her something to do might be good. Dean'll be going back to school, she can't, and that's a whole lot of free time." And that sort of shit could lead to problems, just of a mental variety. She was still a teenager, and she couldn't call up friends to go hang out or anything, or go to class...yeah. Lots of free time to possibly get depressed or who knew what else. An expert on teenage girls he was not.

"Fine, I'll talk to her then - or do you think it'd be better to get them both round a table and talk about it together?" she asked, realising she'd been about to say 'as a family' which was just bizarre. But, then again, most of her life was bizarre - not a single aspect of it had gone the way she'd imagined when she was younger. Life was strange like that.

"We can." Oz said. "If you want to kind of pull her aside, could do that too. Of course, this is all assuming Dean got his ass around to actually bringing it up with her." he added. Then he paused, and eyed his wife. "You know that kid is startlingly like me sometimes." he added. "The better I get to know him, the more I can see it. We think alike on some major things."

"Yeah?" Sophie asked, wondering at that. "How so?" she asked, setting her cup down on the table and eyeing him lightly. She was beginning to realise that perhaps Oz knew her cousin a lot better than she did, which was an odd feeling and not one she was sure how she felt about.

Oz leaned back in his chair and propped his head on his hand, slouching at the table. "Yeah. Like...the reason we went to go get her in the first place was he found out there was danger, and just...bang. Decision made. I don't think it even occurred to him to think about it. Which is a lot like me. And just...not sure. He seems kind of like me with the all or nothing of it all?" he suggested. "Like, he's got the people he cares about, and that matters more than anything. He takes responsibility well for things he probably shouldn't have to, but that's just the way he is, apparently. Kid would've made a great werewolf." he said. Then paused. "Born werewolf." Because yeah. He wouldn't wish the curse thing on anyone.

"Maybe he's just been watching the way you do things," Sophie suggested, though that didn't entirely work - he'd not been here that long, in the scheme of things. "Possibly he looks up to you," she added anyway. Stranger things had happened, after all. "You did say you were starting to feel like his dad," she pointed out.

Oz blinked. "Wait, what? He can't look up to me." he said automatically. "That's...no. I don't think so. That's...no." The thought of Dean looking up to him was rather insane in his eyes. "I'm just around, I think. And with his issues with his abilities, I understand where he's coming from and everything. But he can't look up to me. That'd be bad." Really bad!

"Why?" Sophie asked him, tilting her head to the side and watching him.

"You've met me, right?" Oz said in return. "I mean--I'm me! I fuck up, all the time! There's nothing to look up to! That would just be a baaad, bad road for him to follow, so let's not contemplate it, and think of less scary options."

"Everyone fucks up from time to time, J," Sophie pointed out, starting to look amused now. "And you don't fuck up 'all the time' - there are worse role models for him to choose. You're selling yourself short. Again."

Oz made a face at her. "Well, I seem to fuck up a lot. And still, come on, would you really want your cousin to take after me? Even though yeah, he's already seeming to, which is kind of weird, considering. But I don't think that's a good thing. He should...find a better one. We all know I'm messed up." Though he was messed up in werewolf ways, and Dean was messed up in some of the same ways without the werewolf part. He guessed, he didn't know for sure. It was so hard for him to tell a lot of the time. He knew where a lot of his instinct points stuck and held fast, but not all the time.

"You're forgetting in this that I love you, right? Or is my taste in guys that bad that I'd want to spend the rest of my live with a complete and total fuckup? Come on here, J - give me some credit. And I don't think you fuck up half as much as you seem to. In fact, I can't think of the last time you did," she mused, considering this - but not half as much as she appeared to.

He waited, almost hanging on her silence, waiting for her to come up with the last time he'd fucked up. In the end he smirked at her then prodded her foot with his. "I love you too. And no, alright, point taken. You don't have that horrible taste, and it's not the end of the world or anything that he might be like me." Oz conceded. It was still strange, how it worked out. That the kid was related to her but was so much like him sometimes. But then they'd also just had a rational discussion about letting a girl live with them who's funeral they'd attended. So--perspective.

"But you'd prefer it if he wasn't?" Sophie asked, lightly, not letting the subject drop right away. It seemed important and it was obviously getting to him. "What are you worried about?" she asked him, reaching across to take his hand.

Oz gave her hand a squeeze, and had to think about that for a few long moments. "I don't want him to get himself killed." he said simply. Because that's what it boiled down to. "We had to hold him back or he would have been out there, trying to help her, and he would have died along with her. I'm almost positive of that. So...that's one trait I'm not really happy to see. I understand it. I understand it better than probably a lot of people. But that doesn't mean I want that for the kid. He really doesn't need to have that knee jerk reaction to being a martyr, especially if he doesn't have what he needs to better ensure he'll live." They knew all about that. Oz had just acted when Billy had needed him, and he'd come really stupidly close to death there. But he was a werewolf, he could take a little more and dish out more at the same time.

Sophie thought about this and nodded, agreeing with him. "That something we can educate him out of, you think?" she asked, actually having faith in the fact that Oz would know better than she would. She was a lot more rational about most things that her other half, that was for sure. "So that he doesn't try that sort of stunt again? I mean, he's sixteen, maybe he'll mature out of it?" she suggested, almost hopefully.

After looking at Sophie for a long moment, he tried to think of what to say. He didn't really want to scare her, and at the same time, he didn't want to lie, either. "I think if it's there, it's there." he said slowly. "We can try to talk to him about it, and we can do our best to try and give him alternatives and failsafes and back up plans, but at the end of the day, if that's the kind of person he is, that's what he's going to do. I mean...I know that in the heat of the moment, where it's all happening--I don't think. I just act. It's not even something I consciously decide, it's just there. He doesn't have the same instinctual pullstrings as I do, but I think it's similar. So...I don't really know. Maybe he'll grow out of it, but honestly--he's sixteen. If he's already got this going on, where most kids his age would be pissing their pants over most of this shit?" He trailed off there.

"That's one way of looking at it," Sophie agreed. "Then again, boys his age tend towards being hotheaded and not using their brains so much," she pointed out. "Maybe he'll learn caution as he gets older. Or at least to think about the consequences of what he's doing. Do you know why he did it - I mean, was it just a one off? Was it just because it was her? Would he actually do it for anyone? How big a problem are we potentially facing with him?" she asked, posing questions which they may or may not actually be able to answer. because she didn't want to see her cousin dead either - and she wasn't unwilling to entertain the suggestion that if he was likely to get himself killed doing something insanely daft, then maybe Marquette wasn't the place for him and they should send him home now whilst he still had all his limbs intact.

"Not thinking it was a one time deal, and I'm really not sure if it was just her, or he'd do that for anyone. If I had to make a guess, he'd do that for certain people. Maybe not every asshole off the street, but people who're important to him. Though, I think with the other people he might still try to help, just in a less potentially suicidal manner. I think he's got a really selfless sort of world view, and that'll come into play every time in situations like that." Oz said, trying to come up with as straight forward and honest assessments as he could.

Sophie didn't say anything for a while, thinking this through before her blue eyes batted up to meet Oz'. "You know situations like this seem to becoming more common," she said, quietly. Okay, maybe this was the worst, but she knew what had been going on in town for the past few months and things very much seemed to be getting worse lately.

Oz nodded. "Yeah." he agreed. "I know." He was wondering if she was thinking about removing Dean, if they couldn't remove his 'hey let me get myself killed' button. "What're you thinking?" he asked, just so he didn't go jumping to conclusions. See, he was getting better at this whole communication business. Not all the time, of course, but in the long run and if he was sitting down taking the time and all.

"Aunt Vicky sent Dean out here because she thought it would be the best place for him," Sophie said, slowly. "And whilst I agree that he's probably better here because we can help him with his abilities and coping with being different, I don't think him getting himself hurt or killed was really part of the plan."

Yeah, that's what he'd kind of figured. "You thinking about seeing if he should go home?" he asked. There wasn't inflection there either, though his first gut instinct there was 'he won't like it'. Then, he figured he might as well put that out there too. "I think he'd hate the suggestion." Which didn't at all mean Oz didn't think it might not be a good idea, just that he figured of all the things they could say to the kid, 'by the way we're thinking about sending you home' would be taken the worst. The one thing it did kick up in Oz was a hard internal twitch that said he wasn't allowed to ship the kid off. He was pack, they were meant to be looking after him. You didn't just ship people off. But that was his instincts talking, not logic.

"I'm thinking we shouldn't completely rule it out," Sophie told him. "I'm not saying let's put him on the next plane back, but, for the future, we should keep it as an option. And I know he won't like it, but if it gets to the stage where it'll save his life, then I'll take the arguments." She paused. "Wouldn't you have made her leave, if you could have done?" she asked, softly, not having to put a name to the 'her'.

Oz actually looked away at that, and sort of moved back away from her. "You know? I didn't argue with you. I didn't say a word about it. I didn't say it was a bad idea, I didn't say we shouldn't think about it, nothing like that. Did you really have to bring her into it?" he asked, and he took a few steps away, leaning his hands on the kitchen counter to stare out the window above the sink. "Yes, I would have made her leave if I could have. I didn't. She's dead. I don't want Dean dead either. I also don't want to abandon him, right when he's found a place where people understand him. I don't want to ship him off, because I consider him pack, but if it saves his life, then we'll do that. Just..." he grit his teeth. "Gimme a minute." he said, and headed for the door, going to go sit on the front porch for a few minutes.

And there it was. They'd been doing so well as well and she just had to fuck it up, didn't she? Sophie gave him the time, dropping her head down into her hands and staring blankly at the table. One of these days she'd learn when to stop - where the line was. Obviously that day wasn't today and she sat there, waiting for him to come back.

He sat on the porch for about three minutes, then took a walk around the house. It helped, though he couldn't quite kick the feeling of having been hit with a low blow. He was just slightly less apt to start shouting when he finally got back inside, which was about fifteen minutes later. He didn't especially want to start one of their screaming fights with two teenagers asleep upstairs, and Billy and Maddie still somewhere around. The latter two had heard enough of their fights anyways. When he came back into the kitchen, he got himself a beer from the fridge, then leaned against the counter again, though it was about as far from Sophie as he could put himself while still being technically in the same room. "So, do you want to talk to him up front about things, or wait." he said, not quite looking at her.

"I'm sorry," Sophie said, quietly, knowing that that was probably useless. She took a breath, noting just how far away he was right now. "I... Don't know. Wait, I guess, see how things go. It's not an option that I'm suggesting that we go for straight away. Just one we need to have there if things get really bad," she said, trying to get back to concentrating on the subject and not on that huge gulf that she'd just opened up between them.

For Oz, it was one of those weird times where he actually could concentrate on the subject at hand more than the awful feelings going on inside of his head. And that was purely to do with the fact that Dean counted as pack. So it was one of those weird tick things, that he'd never actually experienced before, but was there now. "I think if we presented it right away, he'd just back off, be distrustful, and right now we all need a break from bullshit. So yeah, I say we keep it in mind, but don't put it to him like a punishment for being who he is. Which might actually be what it boils down to, I don't know. Let's give it time, and we'll watch. See how things go. Figure it out from there." One of the ways he was keeping is mind on the subject at hand was he still wasn't quite looking at her.

Sophie was highly aware of his behaviour, the way he was standing, everything. She just didn't know what to do about it - she never did. And all the years they'd been together hadn't taught her how best to approach it, leaving her feeling helpless and even worse. And he thinks he's the fuckup, she thought, bitterly. "No - I don't want him to see it as a punishment and I don't want it to be that at all. I just... If we're out of other options, if he really is a risk to himself..." She took a breath. "Are you going to let him keep the gun?" she asked him.

"I don't think he'd see it any other way. I could be completely off base here, but I think he'd view it in that kind of a fashion. Like it was a punishment. Or that we were sending him away because he was too much of a problem. I don't know, maybe I'm reading in too much." Oz sighed, and dragged his fingers through his hair, looking off towards the door again. "I think right now, Dean needs something he can use in case of trouble that isn't his abilities, because he's having enough issue with those as it is. I also know how you feel about it, and at the end of the day, he's your cousin. So if you don't want him to keep it, I can ask for it back." he said, not really answering that in quite the way he figured she wanted him to, but right now he wasn't going to be making decisions on his own on anything in regards to Dean. He didn't want it to be his alone fault later.

Sophie was treading carefully now - more for the sake of her relationship with Oz than Dean's sake, if she was being totally honest with herself. "What I worry about is what we've been talking about - he reacts instinctively. Now, with abilities, that's not going to get you into as much trouble as a firearm might. I worry that he'll do something stupid and we'll have the actual police at our door," she told him, then went on hastily. "I can see, though, why you want him to have it and I can see the benefits - especially if this downward trend is going to continue, but yeah, I worry." She paused again. "If he's going to have it, will you keep working with him to make sure he can use it properly?"

"If you think he shouldn't have it, then I'll ask for it back. It's that simple, Sophie." Oz said, and now he finally did look back at her. "Don't ask me on this. I have enough punch all on my own to protect myself and anyone I'm with. I don't think he does, but I know he has that protective drive. You're right. It could get him into trouble. But I think he's generally got a good head on his shoulders too. But...whatever, there's still the matter of the fact that he probably can't be wearing the thing to school, now can he? And if he does keep it, yes, I'll keep at him to learn as much as possible, though I think he's naturally inclined towards it. I don't know. I keep thinking worst case scenario, and his ability to burn the lights out won't exactly stop anything big coming at him." He was aware he probably wasn't making a lot of sense, and he set the beer down on the counter, even though he hadn't actually even taken a drink of it yet. "Whatever you think is best on it. I don't want to try and explain to the police what he's doing with a gun either, and it might take the entire decision of his staying here or going home out of our hands if it happens."

Sophie nodded. "It would do - they'd deport him in an instant. Which, actually, might not be a bad thing for him to know," she pointed out. "Okay - he can keep it. You know I don't particularly like guns, but I'll agree that it's probably sensible. And he should probably learn to use everything else we've got," she added, sounding a little reluctant, but resigned. "If he really is a lot like you, we'd better work towards actually gearing him up to being able to do something when he decides to leap to someone's defense. Then, maybe, we won't actually have to face sending him home."

"Fine. We'll do that." Or, more likely, he would do that. "Do you want to talk to him about any of this, or should I just start putting time aside to teach him how to use everything we have stowed away in this house?" There was a lot, too. They could be at that for a while. But no one could ever say that he was unprepared. "Talking to him about using extreme caution with the handgun will be good to do immediately. Were you still thinking we should talk to them both together about the situation with Thia, or do you want to talk to her yourself?"

"If you want me to talk to Dean, I will, but from what you've been saying, I think he might take it better from you," she suggested, all too aware that she had communication problems with Oz that had a large amount to do with the ways they viewed the world and therefore she would quite possibly risk having the same communication problems with Dean. It wasn't something she worried about on a day to day basis, but with something important she was willing to take herself out of the frame if it meant not fucking things up. "And let me talk to Thia first - judge the situation. Then we can decide whether we all need to talk together. You said before that you didn't know whether he'd even talked to her about it anyhow?"

"Yeah, he hadn't got around to it yet." Oz said. "I don't know if he has yet, like I said, as far as I could tell earlier, I though they were sleeping." He shrugged. "I'll talk to Dean later. You can talk to Thia." he agreed. He was also still restless, the biggest symptom he got when they argued. "I'm going to go for a walk." he announced. "Unless there's anything else to discuss right now." Which there might be, and so he was leaving it open in case he'd totally overlooked something.

"No, no there's not," Sophie said, swallowing and looking down at the table. She didn't want to let him go - she wanted to talk about the fact that they'd fought again, even if it wasn't in so many words. But she'd apologised and he'd just completely blanked her on it, so she knew she'd let him go. "I guess I should get back to work," she said, quietly.

"I'll see you later." he said, not really able to just walk out without saying something. Though he did leave the beer just as untouched as it had been when he'd set it down, forgetting about it entirely. Then he headed out, to clear his head. To not start up a fight. That was the last thing either of them needed right this second, so...yeah. He just wasn't going to go there. Instead, he'd go out, probably shift, go for a long run through the woods, and come back later when he was feeling less upset about shit. Seemed like a good idea to him.