She's Gone

Who: Dean and Oz
Where: Their house
When: About ten minutes after Lullaby left

Dean heard the front door close. He heard the sound of the gravel beneath her feet. He listened until he couldn't hear anymore, until all he could hear were the muffled voices from downstairs. Had anyone else even noticed she'd gone?

He didn't know how much time passed, how long he sat there in the dark, his arms wrapped around his pulled up knees. It felt like an eternity, though he doubted that it was that long. Long enough for her to walk away, long enough for him to go through a whole gammit of emotions and arrive back at emptiness. He stared into the dark until something changed and he took a breath. He didn't feel any different, he'd had no blinding revelations, or great plans, nothing like that. But he'd sat there for long enough and he couldn't do it any longer. So he got up and opened the closet door, blinking in the light. It felt like an age and his room felt empty, but he wasn't staying there and he crossed to the other door quickly, pulling it open and almost tripping over the bunny that fell through the door as he did so.

Leaning down, he picked it up, clutching it to his chest without a second thought as he took the stairs down two at a time, looking for Oz.

Oz was in the living room. He was in the living room, and being mildly distracted, because he'd smelled tears, and was pretty sure Thia had taken off for a bit. Which meant there'd been another fight, but that was kind of unsurprising with those two. The confusing part was that she'd gone out. He figured she'd gone down to the lake or something, and he'd been torn on what to do. He could go try and talk to her, but figured if she was going out, she probably wanted distance, and anyways, since when was it his forte, talking to teenage girls? Maybe at one time, but that had nothing to do with the kind of relationship he had with the kids in his household. So yeah. Right. The other thing he could do was go talk to Dean, see what happened, but he waffled on that too. Dean was a little on the intensely oversensitive side when it came to that girl, and he didn't especially want to go invite a snit to be thrown at him for asking. Teenagers. So it was on his mind and he was still unsure what exactly to do when Dean appeared. With a stuffed rabbit. He looked over, concern and confusion on his face. "...you okay?" he asked, since well. Dean certainly didn't look okay, toy bunny aside.

He wasn't okay. Not in any sense of the word. He felt empty, broken, lost. He shook his head and then opened his mouth to speak. "She's gone," he said, his voice coming out flat and dull.

Oz frowned more then and sat forward on the couch. "What do you mean she's gone?" he asked. "I know she...and she was crying, and...what happened?" And do I need to go find her? Get her someplace to stay? Because I haven't forgotten about those dangers we discussed and all of that and that isn't a good thing, even if you guys had a falling out, and...shit.

Dean took a breath and tried again, tried to summon up something, anything, some of the energy that drove him from point to point, kept him going, had him making all the plans he'd already made but which were now just floating, abandoned. "I mean she's gone. Left. She... It's my fault. I couldn't get her to stay. And... even before that." He shook his head as the full impact of his own stupidity careered up out of the emptiness and he clutched at it - at least it was something. "I said the wrong fucking... I... It's my fault and she's gone," he repeated, more tightly this time.

Oz stood up. "...sit down, Dean." he said first. "I'm sure it's not all your fault, and...people get pissed, it happens." But oh holy hell did it look like the kid was falling apart. So...yeah. Sitting down was a good option at this point. "Start over. What was said, and what are you talking about."

Dean didn't sit. It was his fault, he'd been stupid, he hadn't thought about what he'd been saying and then he'd just compounded his stupidity time after time. Sure, there'd been some saves in there, but at the end of the day, this was his fault. He'd caused this and as such, he deserved this. But she didn't, and neither did anyone else and he needed to pull it the fuck together and deal with it, rather than being a self-centred pussy and giving in to the whole 'oh woe is me' crap. He took another breath, a slow, deep inhale this time and closed his eyes for a minute, hugging on tightly to Hennabean, before he opened his eyes again on the exhale, bringing himself back together again and looking at Oz. "We were talking about her father," he started, his voice more normal now, but strangely lacking in emotion. "We have very different viewpoints on how to handle things if he ever showed up. I want to prepare, work defensively, be ready for him and if he shows, deal with the problem. Thia thinks she should run - that her presence with us would bring danger down on us and she doesn't think that's acceptable. We were kind of arguing about it and I fucked up - I stupidly said that even if she went, he could still target us to try and find her. And she panicked and declared that she had to leave now, before he finds us. And I... I couldn't stop her. I tried, but I fucked that up as well."

Internally, Oz winced. Mostly because that sounded like a really shitty situation, as opposed to any differences of opinion. He of course was in the same camp Dean belonged to. But then again, he just wasn't very good at abandoning people, regardless of danger that might be presented. Sophie would have to weigh in on that, though. He was watching Dean, and saw the change. The sort of...walling that was going on. Compartmentalizing, maybe. "If she was going to leave, then she was going to, and it's not really up to you to stop her." Oz said first, quietly. "At the end of the day, no matter what we want for other people, it's...not always something that's in our hands." he continued. Which really, he knew wasn't going to be what Dean wanted to hear. However, with as much self condemnation he was getting from Dean right now, he might need to hear it. Even if he didn't take it into account until later. "Do you know where she's headed?"

"It's up to me to talk her out of it though," Dean told him. "When she's going to go looking for him... She... What the hell does she even think she's going to do? Against him? From what we know?" Dean exclaimed, emotion suddenly snapping back into place and bringing anger with it. "I'd say she'd get herself killed, but... Fuck!" He turned and threw Hennabean across the room, the bunny landing with a thud against the wall and sliding down behind the piano.

Oz watched the bunny get thrown, then turned his eyes back on Dean. "...Dean, I know you care about her. I know you're worried about her. I know you take a lot of responsibility for things, and her in particular, but no. It isn't up to you to talk her in or out of anything. And I can completely back you on the whole this being a bad situation and a bad idea for her to be leaving right now, but it's not your fault, okay? Now...again, do you have any idea where she was going to be headed? Did she have someplace else to go?"

Dean shot Oz a look, not at all agreeing with what the guy had said, but not willing to get into an argument about it either. This was his fault, this was his responsibility. This would never have happened, apart from what he said and what he did. The blame lay with him and he accepted that. "Maddie, probably - unless she decided to go back to Journey's for the night. But I don't think so - she'll be wanting to find him before I do," Dean told him, realising that he was going to have to do that now, a realisation that hit hard. He needed to start seriously thinking about what he was going to do there.

"...well, if she's headed there, and on foot, it's not like she can get there faster than we could." Oz said reasonably. And we can call and let them know what's going on. I can also track her. Make sure nothing happens to her from...wherever I find her and wherever she's going." Just in case it wasn't Billy and Maddie's. He paused and eyed Dean. "...how serious was the argument?" he asked. "Should I be assuming I need to find a place for her to stay for a while that isn't here?" Not that he thought that was a particularly good idea, but he wasn't really thinking taking her back and locking her in the cage downstairs was the best plan either. A kidnapper he was not.

"The argument wasn't... It was mostly me trying to convince her to stay and her not going for it. Except at one point," Dean admitted. "There was a moment that I thought I'd got her, but, but I screwed it up," he finished, shaking his head.

You know I bet you could be more vague if you really tried. Oz thought, but didn't say. God, sometimes it was like pulling teeth, talking to this kid. He was, however, patient. "Quit with the blame thing, please. It's a messed up situation at best emotions are bound to run high. So...that didn't really tell me anything. Is it...are you two..." he didn't even know how to word that. Oh wait. He did. "...on the outs?" he suggested, not sure about that, but it was better than some relationship metaphor that didn't work considering the two weren't dating.

"No," Dean stressed, wondering where Oz had got that from. It had never actually occurred to him. "No. No - it's. No." God, did he have to spell everything out? Obviously. "Oz - she went because she couldn't stand it if anything happened to us. It had nothing to do with our friendship. I didn't want her to go because I couldn't... I... She's my best friend," he landed on, chickening out there. "This has got nothing to do with - we're still friends. That hasn't changed." Apart from the part where you screwed up and made it sound like you only wanted her for what she could do for you. Remember the battery conversation? Remember how much she hates that kind of thing? You total. Fucking. Idiot.

Holding up his hands, Oz shook his head. "Okay--fine. Just asking." he said. Of course, they'd still have to find Thia, and see what she said. He knew stubborn people. Most of the people he chose to love in his life were that. To some truly stupid degrees, even. He didn't know if she was one of them, but kind of had a feeling she might be. The very very sweet but if her foot's down it's down types. Or he was just anticipating a fight so if he found himself with one, he'd be better able to deal with it. One of the two. "I should try to catch her up." he said, glancing towards the door. "If you want to call Billy and Maddie, that might be a good idea, to give them the heads up. ...might also want to fill in your cousin." Which he wasn't sure Dean would think to do if he wasn't given the idea. He didn't seem to talk to Sophie like he spoke to him.

"Okay," Dean agreed, already heading for the door, until he stopped, turned and quickly crossed to the other side of the room, carefully pulling Hennabean out from behind the piano and dusting the bunny off. He held it with one arm and looked over to Oz. "Don't let anything happen to her," he said, his tone a mixture of demand, request and plea. he didn't wait for an answer, instead walking past the werewolf and out of the room, going looking for his cousin and the phone.

Oz nodded, then headed off into the bathroom to get his clothes off. He left the door open a bit, and then headed for the door...which had a flap he could leave out of, which he did. He immediately took up the trail, not hard to do since it was so fresh, and took off at a run, to track the wayward girl. He wondered if his parents had ever felt like they were part of some crazed tv show or something. ...now that he thought of it, probably.