InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "It's only time."

Dinah Lance (i_crylikeabird) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2012-06-21 22:06:00

Entry tags:

dean winchester, dinah lance

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Dean)
Talking to Jen and hearing Jen voice her fears had only driven the point home to Dinah. The Joker was back. Possibly back from the dead by some mysterious twist of fate. Dinah didn't know how that was possible and the Joker she knew of was... well, she supposed she had no way of knowing if he was mortal or immortal since no one had ever killed him. She'd always thought that he was human, but perhaps he was something else?

She didn't have answers. All she had were questions and fears. She wasn't worried for herself so much as for those that she cared about and really everyone in the City.

After speaking with Jen, she had tried to find the Batman to talk about this. She had tried, but Batman hadn't been anywhere she could find. She would almost bet that he knew that the Joker was back already. In fact, she would be surprised if Batman didn't know. She wasn't thrilled at being kept out of the loop, but that wasn't surprising either.

After about an hour of searching and trying to get ahold of Batman on the comm, she decided that she would have to save the conversation for another night. Maybe she would have stayed out longer, but there was a part of her that was really worried for Dean. He was living with her above the shop-if the Joker wanted to go after someone she cared about, it didn't get much more obvious than that.

She let herself into the apartment, looking for any sign that Dean was home.

"Dean?" she called out as she ditched her shoes and jacket and moved further into the apartment.

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i_soldieron
2012-06-23 03:19 am UTC (link)

Dean was in. She got lucky with that one. One thing that might be obvious that the hunter was indeed home was the leather jacket. The keys on the small hall table might be another indicator. The last clue that the hunter might be in? The shower was going. He had left muddy boots by the door, too.

He was busy humming to himself while he got himself cleaned up. He had no idea what she was coming to check on. He had no idea she knew, and if he had, he might have made sure there were things in the place that would distract her from wanting to kill him. Maybe.

That or a lot of alcohol.

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-23 03:32 am UTC (link)

Dinah breathed a little sigh of relief as she spotted some of the telltale signs that Dean was in. She locked the door behind herself and then headed down the hallway. When she heard the shower running, she smiled to herself just a little bit. After all, she had seen enough to know that Dean in the shower was not a bad sight at all.

She lightly knocked on the door and poked her head in.

"Hi honey, I'm home."

Her tone and expression might not have been as light as she was aiming for, but she would let him finish showering before they talked. For right now, she just wanted to see his face for herself and get that extra reassurance that for now, all was well.

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i_soldieron
2012-06-24 03:52 am UTC (link)

Dean might have been singing in the shower, something by Asia perhaps. He'd been singing softly, but he was certainly bobbing his head to the beat. It wasn't until he heard his voice that he went still. The hunter was pretty damn happy that she couldn't see his blush.

"Hey, babe, you come back safe and sound, or do we get to play doctor?" He peeked from around the shower curtain, one eye closed to keep the shampoo from running into it. He smiled almost boyishly at the dirty minded little prospect.

"Got the stitches out." It was something they'd both been waiting on...sort of. It meant they could move on to a different sort of relationship. It also meant he could stop wrapping his torso with cling wrap.

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-24 04:17 am UTC (link)

They had been sharing a bed, but Dinah had joked more than once that she'd worked too hard putting those stitches in to risk ripping them out. While it was frustrating in all the right ways to be that close without getting closer, she supposed it was good that they were forced to take things slower in a way. Of course, the news that Dean's stitches were out was still greeted with a grin. In fact, it was almost enough of a distraction that she was tempted to postpone the discussion.

Almost. Her smile faded. Though she had found out about the Joker's presence a few days ago, she hadn't wanted to say anything until she knew more, or at least until she had had the chance to wrap her head around it. She didn't know any more, but she'd had the chance to get her mind straight and realize that this wouldn't go away. Which meant that she needed to tell Dean what he was signed on for.

"There's actually something I need to talk to you about after your shower. It has to do with my night job," she said, since 'we need to talk' could sometimes be the kiss of death in relationships. She gave him a small attempt at a smile. "Though I wouldn't say no to playing 'doctor' afterward."

She knew Dean well enough to know that even if he should be scared away by the potential of being a target for the Joker, he probably wouldn't be. That didn't mean that she wanted to leave him in the dark about things.

"I'll let you finish. I'm just going to go grab something to eat."

She didn't wait for him to press for more-after all, she didn't want to ruin his shower. Instead, she ducked out of the bathroom and headed for the kitchen. She trusted that Dean would find her when he was done.

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i_soldieron
2012-06-24 04:27 am UTC (link)

His brows furrowed, and his lips might have pursed in that not so pleased way; but, he nodded and let her go. He made quick work of finishing up in the shower, and was soon walking down the hall way in jeans and a tee that was sticking to his still damp body. He hadn't bothered with shoes again. He ran his fingers through his still wet hair, making it stand up in a few places.

"I like that the City's back." Somewhat. "We have food in the fridge again. Of course, now it puts salads in there instead of sandwiches half the time." His hand and eyes dropped to his stomach. "Do you think it's telling me I'm fat?" He smirked before pulling the shirt up to show his latest nasty scar; it was still pink, but it looked better than it had. Plus, there were no stitches.

"See? All better." He patted his side, before letting the subject drop and moving on to something else. Or more back to something else. "Is it a sandwich or salad day?" He peeked into the fridge to see.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked, but his attention was on what he might discover in the fridge.

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-24 04:37 am UTC (link)

Dinah stepped closer and slid her arms around Dean, placing a kiss on his neck.

"Well, the City's crazy if that's what it thinks," she said with a little bit of a smirk as her hands slid up Dean's sides, carefully skirting around the reminder of the too-close call.

"Can't say I missed the streets moving around, but if the City hadn't come back, I wouldn't be here, which adds to plus column of the City's return in my book."

She didn't let go right away, though she knew that she couldn't postpone answering his question forever. When she finally worked up the nerve, she let go and then went to the fridge in search of a beer for him and wine for herself. Once she'd offered the beer and taken a sip of the wine that she'd poured into a glass, only then did she speak up.

"The Joker's back."

She would elaborate more and maybe she should have danced around the subject, but neither of them really liked beating around the bush all that much.

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i_soldieron
2012-06-26 01:03 am UTC (link)

The hunter smiled at the hold and the kiss. He might have leaned into her a little with it, and there was a small happy sound that she'd heard a time or two in bed or on the couch. He was a vocal type after all, not a screamer, but he didn't hide things by being silent.

He shifted a little for her to get the drinks before claiming a sandwich for a light snack. He settled at the table with the beer and sandwich, and he had every intention of chowing down, even if it meant ruining dinner. But...

Dean paused when he heard her say it. It could be read a few ways, but he didn't say anything right off to clarify which reading was the right one. He looked up at her and sat back a little from the table.

"I know." If she wanted to be upfront, he supposed he could be.

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-26 02:37 am UTC (link)

Dinah didn't know how to take the pose exactly at first. When he clarified, she was a little surprised, to say the least. For just a moment, she stared at Dean. Then a myriad of emotions crossed her face.

"You... know already? How long have you known?"

Her voice was even, though she wasn't exactly calm. She wasn't sure if she was angry yet though she wasn't happy about it. In fact, she was perhaps less quick to anger than she might have been with someone else. They'd been through enough together that she trusted his judgment, even on something where a secret had been kept. At the very least, she would hear him out on how long he'd known and why he might have kept the secret.

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i_soldieron
2012-06-27 12:13 am UTC (link)

"Jesse told me when he fixed me up. Warned me. Don't know how he knew, but the man's a fucking god. Didn't really question it." Dean shrugged slightly. "You'd just lost Jake, and I didn't think you needed shit on top of shit." His hand lifted to rub at the back of his neck, sandwich and beer forgotten for a moment.

"It's why I was outside your house that night. The one the Bat yanked me in like I was some sort of criminal." His smile might have been a little sheepish, but he wasn't apologizing. He had thought he'd been in the right; he was trying to protect her, and he didn't' see any reason to bring more bad to her life at the time. He'd hoped she would never have to find out, yet he knew that was impossible. The Joker would come out sometime.

"Guess, I've been looking after you ever since." He shrugged again. "Not that that's why I'm glad you're here, though it does make things a little easier."

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-27 01:35 am UTC (link)

Some women might have been looking for a man to watch after them. Dinah wasn't one of those women, though she did appreciate it. She sighed and leaned forward to kiss him firmly. It was a brief kiss and when she pulled back, she rested her chin in her hand and studied him for a minute.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

The way she said idiot made it sound almost like a compliment. She shook her head slightly.

"I don't like secrets. I think things will go better if we're honest with each other and if we try to work as a team." She shrugged. "But I'm guessing that you-and probably Jesse and whoever else knew-were afraid that I'd go after him if I found out just then. And I can't say you would have been wrong."

She knew that she hadn't been thinking clearly when she'd just found out about Jake. While she was looking for the Joker now, her mind wasn't clouded by emotion like it had been then. Sure, there were plenty of emotions and those drove her, but they didn't rule her. She was doing her best to go about this in the method that had the best chance for success-or at least she was trying to figure that out.

"I suppose I don't have to point out that you being around me makes you a potential target for him. He knows about the shop. He..." she bit her lip and looked away. This wasn't something that she enjoyed discussing.

"He came into the shop a few days before he took Jake. I didn't realize who he was at first and I said Jake's name on the phone in front of him. Even after I realized... I thought he was going to be a problem for me. I didn't think... If I had, I wouldn't have let Jake out of my sight."

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i_soldieron
2012-06-27 02:55 am UTC (link)

Dean's eyes widened a little at the kiss, but he returned it as much as he could. His brow raised at the 'idiot' bit, but the way it was said wasn't exactly a new thing for him. Of course, it wasn't exactly like Bobby's 'idjits,' but it was damn close.

"Babe, I've had to live on secrets. They've kept me and Sam alive, kept others alive too. I can't help it sometimes." He gave her a slight smile. "And no, I didn't want you out there after him. You might have gotten killed." He didn't say she'd definitely get killed, just that it was a possibility, one that he really didn't like to think about.

"Dinah, I've been hunted. Sam and I have lost friends and family because of who we are. Guess it's about time for me to be a target for the person I care about." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips. "We'll just see what happens, okay?" He wasn't going to promise it'd be okay, or that nothing could happen. He was making an unspoken promise that he wasn't going anywhere. Hell, "I don't plan on running just because you may have a maniac after your hot ass."

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i_crylikeabird
2012-06-27 03:16 am UTC (link)

Dinah appreciated the unspoken promise, and she didn't miss that he'd referred to her as the person that he cared about. It wasn't news, but it was nice to hear out loud. She would rather have had him safe, but she didn't think that he'd just stay away even if she tried to push him away. And with the Joker, even a past connection might be enough to put Dean in his sights.

She also appreciated that he didn't simply promise everything would be okay. That was an empty promise and might seem like he was making too light of the situation.

She took another sip of her wine and gave him a half-smile.

"Must be a pretty hot ass if you're risking getting put in a maniac's line of sight for it," she joked.

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