Facing the Witch

Who: Maddie and Dean
When: Afternoon
Where: Billy and Maddie's house

After his run in with Chance, Dean hadn't felt like going back to class. He should have, he knew, but the total fucking insensitivity of that bastard had him riled up enough that he couldn't do it. he wondered, actually, whether the guy had been carrying any electrical equipment and, if so, whether it actually still worked. He hadn't tried to do anything on purpose, but with a mood like that, who knew what might have gone wrong. His own phone had survived though, he noted as he rescued his bike and headed out of school, hoping nobody stopped him.

His knuckles of his right hurt like hell and he looked down at them from time to time, the air against the broken skin causing the cuts to sing with a sharp pain. He'd obviously hit the guy just as hard as he'd been intending to and he thought his hand was swelling a little as well. But Chance had deserved it - hell, Dean was of the opinion that he was probably deserving of a lot more than he got for what he'd said. And for why. So, the guy could see negative energy. Dean had known exactly what Chance had been referring to, but he'd been so worked up that he didn't care - stupid fucking wanker and his fucking 'tests'. What kind of a bloke did that anyhow. And then acted like Dean was over-reacting about it. Fucker.

Dean headed out of town and up Big Bay Road, following the directions Sophie had given him. Not that there was much 'directing' to do - a five mile ride and then a right turn. Should be an easy, if long, ride.

It was, and it gave him an opportunity to calm down as well, and he looked less like thunder as he arrived at the isolated house and left his bike laying on the ground outside as he walked up to the door and knocked. It was only then that he recalled that he was nervous about this whole thing - with everything else that had gone on today, he'd forgotten about that.

Maddie was having a little trouble readjusting to this whole being alive business. She was out of practice. And a month alive a few years ago had taught her a few things, but really not that many. She'd spent a lot of her time not actually readjusting to the world and all, she'd been...busy. Alright, she'd been busy doing things she had no business doing, but whatever. She'd only had a month. Now she was back and after checking as many reports and all as she could, reading through the paper and all, she'd noted that she'd been right. Her descendant was dead. Which meant soon she should be getting the spelled 'inheritance' that her grandbaby had owned. It was designed to find it's way to whatever Dante was next in line, which apparently was her again.

After spending her time getting used to the house again as a living person inside of it, she'd changed clothes about six times. She was used to being able to switch that sort of thing around at will, but that wasn't available to her anymore. Billy had bought her clothes, of course, she just wasn't sure what she liked to wear yet, and the styles were so different than what she was used to. In the end she'd opted for a sun dress, because it was less constricting than anything else and she was already feeling a little cooped up. The last hour or so she'd been attempting to figure out which buttons to push on the answering machine to make it play it's messages. That damn annoying red blinking light was mocking her, she was sure. When there was a knock on the door, it surprised the hell out of her, and it took her a minute to remember that she was meant to answer it, what with her being alive and able to do that and all. So she walked over and opened up the door, as she tugged her hair back over her shoulders in a restless sort of manner. "Oi. Dean. What're you doin out here by yourself, lad?" she asked, looking past him and noting the bike. She also stepped back to let him inside, actually pleased for some company. "C'mon in." she added, and gave him a little smile, which was slightly strange on her face. She wasn't the really overly friendly type, after all. And she wasn't used to dealing with people who could see and hear her.

The smile surprised him - the few times he'd seen her to date she'd been scowling at him, or ordering him around. Or both. So he didn't say anything at first as he stepped inside and couldn't help looking round a little. It was a strange kind of house, small, but more than that it looked half lived in - in good working order, but like Billy had never really got round to properly doing things like getting whole sets of furniture, or the other little add ons that made a house into a proper home. It was neat and well decorated, but there was just an air that something was missing.

Oh, he'd been asked a question, right! Dean looked back to Maddie. "Erm, actually I was wondering if I could pick your brains - about magic stuff," he told her, a little hesitantly.

"Sure." Maddie said, slightly distracted, then she pointed at the blinking stupid machine. "Make that work." she said, in her typical ordering around fashion. "I think my boy called me and I've tried some buttons but it makes this bloody irritating beep at me and I don't know what I've done." she explained. Maddie and electronics were not friends. She generally attempted to stay away from them, but she couldn't always.

Dean raised an eyebrow, then walked across and pressed the red button, starting the annoying woman's voice going on about how there was one new message, before Billy sounded out talking about how he'd be late home, ending in a loud and very annoying beep.

Well, when Billy started talking, there was a little softer smile on her face, though Maddie winced at the beep. "Annoying thing." she muttered under her breath. "Oi, what did you do to yourself?" she asked, frowning as she walked over and looked at his hand, grabbing it up to get a better look at it. "Got a first aid kit 'round here somewhere." she added, sort of half pondering where it might be. "What've you got to ask me about magic?" she asked. "The wolf send you?"

Dean pulled his hand back, covering his knuckles with his other hand. "Got into a fight at school, but it was over before it began," he said, trying to brush it off. "It's nothing. And I sent me. I want to know about a few things, actually. Locating people for starters, and then defensive magic. I have a few ideas and I want to know if they're doable. Well, if you can do them, actually, because I don't know the first thing about magic and I don't have the time to learn."

"I can probably do whatever you need." Maddie said. "As for fightin, might not want to do too much've that." she added, though she didn't exactly sound disapproving. She wasn't. She'd thrown the first damn punch enough times in her life that she didn't at all think it wasn't just something that happened. However she did clarify. "Draws attention." Then she headed into the kitchen, and looked for an ice pack, since he looked like his hand was swelling if nothing else. "Want anythin?" she asked. "Can't promise I could cook anything without burnin the house down, but...there's probably something around you could eat." she added. Her mind was on the rest of what he'd said. "Location spells are fairly easy, who're we lookin for? Defensive magic I've got you covered on about anything, and actually...house you're at's already pretty well warded, took care've that straight away."

Dean trailed along behind her, feeling a little awkward and a little defensive as well, for all she didn't sound disapproving, it was still a lecture. "He deserved it," the teen mumbled, touching his knuckles with a wince. They were sore and feeling a little puffy. "And there was nobody else around." He stopped just into the kitchen, hovering as as moved around. "Nah, I'm good," he told her in response to her question of food. He'd managed some cereal this morning and Thia was bound to press something on him tonight. he didn't think he could face anything in between. "And we're looking for Thia's dad," he added.

Maddie glanced over at him and smirked. "Sure 'e did. What happened?" she asked curiously. Teenagers were always interesting to her. She'd been one when she died, after all, and watching how they'd evolved in the last fifty years or so had been fascinating. And of course, there were the things that didn't change at all, and stayed the same. Like fights, brooding and swapping back and forth of affections. She had to think a little bit on what he said last, mind ticking over things. It was a lot easier when you were trying to find someone you knew, but so far as she was aware, no one really knew him. There would need to be a name, or a photograph, or something of his. She wondered how available that would be, but decided to get the answer about the fight before she went off on technical details.

"Guy decided to be a wanker, I didn't take too kindly to it, that's all," Dean told her with a shrug. He didn't take any pleasure in violence, but he wasn't going to let something like that pass either.

"Clearly, it was justified, then." Maddie said drily, getting him the ice for his hand and she put it in a towel to take the bite of the ice away. "Right so lookin for the girl's father. Why's that, an is he missing?" she asked. "Might need somethin've his. Photograph, full name...makes the locating part easier. I can search for someone I don't have anything for but it takes a lot longer and it's hit 'n miss." she explained. "Sort've dodgey so let's not do that unless we have to."

Dean took the towel and held it against his hand, wincing slightly at the contact. "It's more that we don't know where he is. And considering that he's got a history that makes him very much the profile of an obsessive weirdo, plus the fact he's the guy that made Thia into a fade, we'd really much prefer to know whether he's going to be battering down the door any time soon - which is the reason I want to know about defenses as well. As for the things of his? I don't know - I can ask Thia whether he ever gave her anything of his, but considering we had to break into her house to get her things and she'd just found out her father was a mass murderer, I doubt gifts from daddy would have been high on her list of keepsakes," Dean said, realising as he spoke that he was coming out a lot more sarcastic than he'd intended.

Maddie listened, and frowned as she did so, not liking the sound of that. "Can't say I wouldn't like to know more about her." she said first. "An fine, ask her anyhow. Anything that was his, or..might work if she got it from him, though would work best if it was a possession. I'm figurin you don't have hair or fingernails, so let's not go there. How 'obsessive weirdo' are we talkin, lad?" she asked. "Spell it out for me. Clearly, you're worked up 'bout it, if you're talkin findin him and protection."

"I don't know, exactly, but I know she grew up not knowing him, that her mother thought he was bad news and kept him away, that he would send her gifts anyhow. I know that he possibly conveniently turned up just before she died and when she met him it was because he'd been following her and 'rescued' her when some bloke attacked her. I don't know whether that was a set up or not. I know he was there when she ressurected the first time. I don't know whether he killed her or not in the first place, but I'm wondering. He wanted her to come away with him, to start a new life over. He told her some about what she was and he told her about what he'd done. He didn't seem to think that killing five people would particularly bother her. She had to stab him to make him leave. And I'm - we're - worried that he may come back," Dean reelled off.

Listening, Maddie was thinking that there was a lot in there she wasn't pleased about. Yeah, there were things that probably were fantastically Not Good. Therefore--yeah. "If you had to make a guess, how much danger are you anticipatin here, lad?" she asked seriously. She already had an idea of what she'd be getting at, what she might be putting into place to protect the wolf and his little pack there, but still. She wanted to know what the kid thought. She'd watched him some while she could, and he seemed a good sort.

Dean considered that, moving the ice pack a little as he did so. "I'm thinking either none at all, or serious shit," he said in the end, leaning back against the wall. "Thia was talking about him, saying that looking back on everything, she felt like it had always been about him, about him not being denied what he wanted. She thinks that's the only reason he kept in touch all those years - because he wanted her and he wasn't going to take no for an answer. And the more I think about it, the more sure I become that he's not going to stay away. And I hope I'm wrong in that, but I'm thinking that paranoia might not be a bad thing to have right now, especially considering what he could do. I don't know a whole lot about magic, but I understand that being able to make someone come back from the dead and become immortal takes some fairly hard arse stuffs, right?"

"Paranoia usually isn't a bad thing to have regardless." Maddie said. "Specially 'round here. And 'specially since you and the lass've got your own abilities now, an that always draws in trouble, no matter what. Err on the side of caution, it'll probably save your life more often than not." Unless you're destined to die horrible, in which case, you're fucked. "Being able to do something like that would take magic so dark and vile that to learn it would take digging up some fantastically evil folks." she said. "An if he got taught, or found out how to do it, then it's safe to say there's a lot to guard against in regards to him. Living...death, resurrection, none've that is something that's supposed t'be messed with. There're lines, and this blurs the whole lot of them."

Dean raised an eyebrow and looked at her, biting down hard to ask about her own ressurrection. Considering she'd just been talking about that kind of thing in a highly negative light, he didn't think raising the issue would be particularly diplomatic. As for Thia - he knew that what had been done to her wasn't right, but that was the point. It had been done to her. She'd never asked for it, she'd never wanted it. That made all the difference in the world as far as Dean was concerned. All the badness, the evil, the dark and vile - that was all her father, not her at all. "Okay, so caution, I'm getting that, you don't need to say. So - what can we do? I was thinking that the first step is to find out where he is. At the moment we don't even know for sure that he even left town when she ran him off. I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable knowing that he was at least a good few miles away. Another country would be even better. But at least it'd give us a starting point. I was also wondering if, assuming he's not still in town, is there any way we can, I dunno, get some kind of early warning system in place that woudl tell us if he ever decides to come back?"

"Possibly, yes." Maddie said, frowning lightly as she leaned back against the counter by the sink, mind grinding over everything. "There's one spell I could probably cook up. Eventually." Eventually as in when she got her stuff back, and spent a good long while collecting the ingredients needed. "It would sort of...well it's a sanctuary sort've thing. It would mean no one could enter your house uninvited, for one. Like with vamps? Only across the board. And there are other stipulations I could put in on it. 'd have t'talk to the wolf about it, but if things're as serious as you're sayin then I would think he'd be alright with it all. That won't be for a while yet, I need a lot more than what I've got here to even start that. Think he's a danger to everyone, or just her?"

"To everyone," Dean said without pause - though he'd never say that in Thia's presence. But she wasn't here and he didn't have to be wary of her tendency to declare she was just going to up and leave, did he? "If he's that determined, nothing's going to stand in his way and he's already proved that he's capable of killing to get what he wants." And yet Dean was still standing there and had no intention of being anywhere else but in the way. And he knew Oz would be right there with him. He thought back to the meeting that he'd been to that lunch time, to the times they'd discussed. He'd taken some ideas away from that, gained some confidence from realising that he wasn't the only one who was planning for trouble. But he had an idea of what might be coming, and they didn't. And the only other person who could possibly be a target in that group was Joshua.

"Well then. Best put up some pretty good obstacles to trip him up. Should be alright, I'll need time, an I have t'wait for some things to get to me, but after that I'll work on the more heavily impacting spells. Until then...watch close. I'll try to get the location spell done as soon as I get what I need for it, that I can manage with what I've got lyin about, and the extra of whatever you can get me that I've asked for." In Maddie's mind, there wasn't much of an idea that Lullaby should leave. It wasn't in the way she thought about things, really, and Billy would be here with her. Though when she hooked up the sanctuary spell at the wolf's house, she'd be doing a second one here, just in case.

"Thanks," Dean told her, finally cracking something vaguely approaching a smile, though it wasn't much of one. Then again, he so rarely smiled anyway. "Is there anything else I can be doing in the meantime? Er, we can be doing?" he asked, correcting himself, recognising that he so often tried to take everything on himself and that that didn't always go down too well. Plus he was thinking more and more about what had been discussed, about how Thia needed to feel like she was contributing.

"Try not to attract too much attention, for one." Maddie said with a little half smirk, catching his correction there. She didn't say anything about it though. She had a tendency towards the same thing. "Try to keep thinking of ways to get around things, other sorts've things you can do. Find out as much as you possibly can about him. I don't know how you're going t'go about that, but try your best. Might want to have a word with the girl's ma." And wouldn't that be an uncomfortable conversation? "The more you know 'bout him, however, the better you can prepare, because you'll know'm better. Can judge what he might do. I might need t'know more about what she is, just so I don't wind up hurtin her with anything I'm doing." she added. "With all the dark magic that went into what she is now...she might not fare so well with white magic around or anything. Not sure on that, but I'd rather be careful than sorry."

Dean shot her a look. "I told you - he deserved it. He started going on about her death, trying to make me angry, talking about how you could still see her blood on the pavement where she died. Well, it worked - he got me angry. So I hit him. And I hope I broke his bloody jaw," Dean said, remembering how that felt, when Chance'd said all of that. When he'd stopped thinking and just reacted. He lifted the cloth from his hand and looked at it, red now, mostly numb, the first signs of bruising starting to appear. Yeah, he'd hit the guy pretty hard. He tried to move his fingers and managed it, though they were stiff. Looking back up at Maddie, he inclined his head. "Dunno how I'll do some of that, but okay. I'll think of something. And I can tell you what I know about fades, but it's still kinda patchy. We've got a book, but I've not read it all yet. Mostly what I know is practical abilities, because we've been trying them out, or I've seen them. I don't know anything about the effects of magic. I know she needs negative energy, that it's like a power source for her. I don't know if that'd make any difference. And she hasn't seemed to have had any issues with the wards you've put on the house so far. And we spent all that time putting things up for you the other day."

Maddie smirked at Dean again, clearly amused. "Twitchy little thing, aren't you?" she asked. "I didn't say anythin more about it, you don't have t'go gettin all defensive on me. Sometimes, people do deserve it. I've thrown the first punch probably more often when I was alive than was strictly healthy for me." she added. "...an that sounds like he was baitin you and definitely deserved to get smacked." she agreed. Yeah, Maddie wasn't the best influence in the world all the time. "The wards I put up were for more standard things than what I'm thinkin on putting in place for you later." she explained. She also looked at Dean's hand, and then moved to start rooting through some of the cupboards absently. "Feeds off've that, hmm? That'll mean I probably shouldn't clean the place out."

"Clean the place out?" he asked her, blatantly and purposefully ignoring the jibe.

"Aye." Maddie said. "I'd been planning a cleaning, actually, for both places. Clears out that kind of thing, makes a flow better. It's technically better for people living in a place, and makes it less likely to draw in and pull in negativity, which can have some adverse effects. Figured the place could use it after the vamps, a lot of not so good emotions goin on there, and the like. That sort've thing'll stay in a place. Linger. But if she feeds off of that, then I'm wonderin if that might not be bad for her. An it's not like she can wander out someplace else to get it." She frowned, deep on thought on that.

"Actually," Dean told her, again working on fkexing his fingers. "It might be a waste of time anyway. I'm a disruptor and part of that means I'm a magnet for negative energy. If you clean it all out, it'll just come back again with me around," he shrugged.

Putting a few things together on a handkerchief she dug out of another drawer, Maddie murmured softly under her breath, sprinkling more odds and ends onto the cloth. "There's a difference between being a magnet for it, and scars put onto the lay of a house or land." she said. "Big difference. But, again, if that's what she needs, then maybe she'll channel it all anyhow. Not at all sure how that works, feeding off of something like that. Mostly I'd say it can't be good for ya, but shows what I know. I'll reassess some other time." She picked up the handkerchief, and started out of the room. "Follow, or wait here." she said, giving him the option either way. She was headed upstairs.

He followed. "It's not good for me, I know that - it makes me sick. But for her, it's different. She feels better around it, stronger. It's good for her. We went to the orphanage in town and apparently there was loads of it there. But then again, she's not had any problems anywhere else, so I don't know what would happen if there was none around. But, then again, I'm there, so she's never going to be completely going without," he said, getting into a ramble of spoken thoughts.

Up the stairs she went, and into she and Billy's bedroom, where she went through a few drawers that had been deemed hers. "So you're a battery for her then?" Maddie asked, curious on that, and she glanced back over her shoulder at the boy before she continued to rifle through some things. "You two're complicated, aren't you then?" she continued, rhetorically. "Does it have any effect on you? Do you feel better or worse when she's...well, feedin off've you?"

Again, Dean hovered back by the door, especially when he realised it was her bedroom. That just felt... weird. "She doesn't feed off me," Dean told her, firmly. "You make her sound like some kind of vampire. She, she kinda uses the negative energy that's just around. I happen to attract it. Apparently it's just around me all the time - she can see it." And, apparently, so could Chance, which was something to look into. "And if she takes it from me, I just attract more - I think I have like a base amount all the time that I can't go under. Endless supply kinda thing. I don't even know she's doing it. But-" And there was the 'but' that had caused so many concerns. "But, well. It's two way as well. Because she's got a lot of excess negative energy as well. And to do what I do needs negative energy. And the more that's around, the easier I find things. So, she's like, a boost for my abilities." He paused and shrugged. "Yeah, it's complicated," he concluded.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Feed, use, same thing, doesn't need dressin up. If that's what she does, that's what she does. Doesn't need to have some nasty connotation to it." she added. She found what she was looking for, and dropped a few more things into the kerchief with a few more murmured words. Then she took out a lighter, lit a candle on the dresser top, and the incense stick that was already there. "So it's circular, innit?" she asked. "She takes things off've you, and feeds it back in another way." she concluded. Then she quirked a smile. "Sounds interestin." she said, passing the bundled satchel she'd made there through the flame then through the incense smoke, murmuring again. Then she headed out of the room and into the bathroom. "Might be helpful, at some point." she added thoughtfully, turning the tap on, and she dipped her fingers in it, then flicked them at the bundle. Then she tied it all up tight, and handed it over towards him. "Here." she said.

Dean trailed after her again. "Yeah, we... What's this?" he asked, breaking off from what he'd been going to say and taking the proffered bundle with a puzzled look on his face.

"It'll help your hand." she said. "Yeah, you..." she made a 'continue' motion with her hand as she headed out of the bathroom, and back downstairs. "Go on." She was in fact interested. And still at least a little glad that she had some company to break up her day.

"Oh, right - do I just..." He managed to balance both the ice filled cloth and the new bundle in his good hand and rested the back of his right hand on top of the bundle, a little awkwardly, hoping that that's what he was meant to do. "Erm - we're still working things out. But I think she feels better round me. And I... Actually, I dunno. I'm not really looking to get any better at what I can do. And she makes it easier, but I also get backlash and apparently the better I get, the more backlash I'll get, so. Really, I'm just..." he looked down at his hand blancing act. "But she feels better around me," he repeated.

She caught that bit. Little martyr, wasn't he? She wondered how it happened that he wasn't actually the wolf's kin. Heading into the living room, Maddie dropped down onto the sofa. "Keep it on there for a bit, though just keep it on your person in general, if you can. Should generally help out little things." she explained in a vague sort of manner. "It should make your hand heal up a little faster, anyhow." That was the theory. "If it stops feeling like it's got a wee bit of a charge to it, run it past a candle flame, some smoke, and flick water at it, should charge it right back up." she added. "An you two are complicated. Seems like a lot of cycles goin on." she added.

"'Complicated' seems pretty par for the course lately," Dean shrugged, sitting down in a chair that didn't match the couch, before standing up again and heading into the kitchen to deposit the now not needed ice and cloth in the sink before coming back again. "And thanks - for this," he aded, gesturing to the little bundle, realising he hadn't said that before. "It's appreciated."

"You're welcome." Maddie said. "Call it even for letting me actually do something for once, and breaking up my day of not knowing how anything in this house really works." she replied. Because it was still bothering her in fairly major ways. Really, really it was. But she knew she'd have to deal, end of story. It would just be dealing that was annoying in really significant ways.

"You don't... Oh, I guess that a lot of this stuff wasn't around before, right?" he asked, realising the answer before he'd even finished the question. "is there anything else you need me to show you?" he offered. "Though I should warn you that electrics occassionally fuck up when I'm around - I don't mean to though." Well, okay, sometimes he did, but he wouldn't here.

"Funny, they do that with me all the time, though it's because I hit buttons at random and then they do strange things I don't understand." Maddie said drily with a half smirk. "An not sure. I don't know how t'get the disc I want to play to play on the stereo. I put one in, but there's all these slots and then it's not what I wanted to ear, an I don't know how to change it. I like music, most of the time I just had the energy to hit play and I'd be satisfied with whatever was in there, but I can change it up now, so I'd like to do that." she explained. "But aye--not a lot've this was around when I died. I was back for a bit, and learned some things, but I was only around for about a month, so..." she shrugged.

"You should get Billy to sit down and write you out step by step instructions for things," Dean suggested. "Loads of things do lots of complicated shit, but the basic funstions can usually be done in a few steps, so he could just write them out and leave you bits of paper around. You'd soon figure it out. Like, with the CD player, it's really a case of knowing how to turn it on, where open is, which way up the disc goes, then hitting close and making sure it's on the right setting before you press play."

"He's got work to do, lad." Maddie said. "Bills to pay, all that financial stuff, an he's got two people to provide for now, instead of just himself." Which there was a distinct little thread of displeasure in Maddie's tone for that. No, she didn't like feeling like she had to be supported like some useless little tramp. She listened to what he said about the stereo. "I get the on, open, disc in right and play thing, but I can't get the setting to cooperate with me."

"Okay," Dean mused, considering that. "Okay - then if I get all I can about Thia's dad and bring it round for you, then I can write up notes for you instead. Maybe as kind of a payment for the spell?" Dean suggested. he didn't have anything else he could give in payment, after all. Especially not since Caleb had intimated how much a new identity would cost over art class this morning. Dean was still thinking about where he was going to find that kind of cash.

Maddie laughed. "You don't have to pay me." she said, waving that off. "You're in with the people I care about most, that makes you part of it. But I would appreciate the notes, if you didn't mind. I get...frustrated." And then she occasionally threw things, and that never went over well.

Dean relaxed a little at that. "Oh, right, okay - but, I can still do that. It wouldn't be a problem," he told her, figuring it was the least he could do. And he'd like to keep the powerful witch sweet, thank you very much.

"Excellent then." Maddie said in a decided tone. Then she paused as she eyed the time. "You're here early, aren't you." she noted. "Shouldn't school be letting out 'round now?" It had back in colorado, though she didn't know the school classes schedule here.

"Er, yeah, probably," Dean admitted, pulling a slight face. "I kinda... didn't go this afternoon." He wondered if he was going to get a lecture off of her for that one.

"Figured." Maddie said. "Fights generally aren't good for the concentration." she added. She wouldn't have stayed either, though school was a bit less of a priority back when she was in it. Plus she had other things on her mind like her protected, and getting told she was meant to travel across the ocean and die. It didn't lend to great study habits.

"Look, could you like - not mention it to Sophie. I don't think she'd be too impressed," Dean asked, giving her what he hoped was a sweet, winning expression. Hey, apparently he was sweet and whilst he wasn't sure that he bought that, he'd play on it if it happened to be true.

Maddie gave him a smirk. "Don't even try the eyes on me, boy." she said. "But your secret's safe with me." she added. She wasn't exactly going to hop on the phone to call up Sophie and natter on for ages about what Dean might be up to. And as far as she was concerned, some things were just...personal business. She imagined he'd have to explain his hand anyhow. No reason she had to go tipping anyone off about anything else.

And apparently he had 'eyes' - he was tempted to ask whether they'd actually work, but he didn't. Instead he stood, pocketing the bundle. "Thanks again. When would be a good time to come back?" he asked her.

Shrugging, Maddie looked around. "Any time durin the day." she said. "I'm bored, Billy's out, it's not like I can drive anywhere. So..." she trailed that off. "See you around, lad. Take care." she said. There was a serious note to her voice there though. She meant that last bit about him watching after himself. It wasn't a light empty sentiment that you just added onto something because you thought you should or it was polite.

Dean nodded. "I will," he promised, getting that that wasn't just a throwaway comment. He nodded a little, before turning and heading out the door.