Who: David Ryan, Finley Melville & Hannah Ryan What: Bargaining. (2/2) Where: David’s apartment in Denver, Colorado When: Sunday, November 1st, 2015 Warnings: Deals with demons & high levels of Winchester angst
David barely had time to scramble up from the floor before both the demon with the knife and Tali were gone. Just gone, like they’d never even been here, but his sister’s crumpled body still lying on the floor was the proof that they had, in fact, been there. Not wasting anymore time thinking about them, David immediately pushed himself up, half crawling and half stumbling over to Hannah. Part of him still wanted to believe in the impossible, that she really was just unconscious even with the weird angle of her neck, that she wasn’t actually… Dead. That word sounded foreign to him, and he wasn’t sure if it was his own voice inside his head saying it or Dean’s. Didn’t matter. She wasn’t dead. Hannah couldn’t be dead because he was supposed to protect her. He was her older brother. What good was he if he couldn’t even do that?
“... Hannah?” His voice was small and hesitant. Afraid that she would hear the fear in his voice, but even more afraid that she wouldn’t hear him at all. He finally got a good look at her once he’d crawled near enough and knelt down at her side, almost immediately lurching back on his heels and scrunching his eyes shut, uttering a gut wrenching sound that was barely human. Her eyes were open. Open and they weren’t blinking. David wasn’t so stuck in the land of denial that he didn’t know what that meant. “Oh, god. Hannah... no. Come back. Please come back.”
Eyes opening again and both of his hands shaking, David took the sides of her face gingerly in them, smoothing the hair back from her forehead and extracting one hand to close her eyes gently with two of his fingers, before taking her limp body into his arms entirely. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his chest, cradling her head and willing his heart beat to somehow jump start hers. Why couldn’t it be that simple? David uttered a dry, choked sob, feeling the hot tears springing behind the corners of his eyes but they didn’t spill onto his face. He didn’t know how to make them come out, nothing in his body seemed to work right, or he didn’t know how to make anything work. Not with his sister dead in his arms.
This was a nightmare he wished he’d wake up from but already knew that he wouldn’t. As much as David would like to believe that she’d come back on her own, like they’d seen people do from the night before, he knew it didn’t work like that here. Whatever had happened then, Hannah was dead now, and there was no bringing her back by wishing it. He could barely function on a level where he could separate his own thoughts, but he could feel Dean’s pain, as sharp as his own. This was Hannah, his sister, but this was also Dean’s brother. Sam had died again, right in front of them, and Dean hadn’t been able to stop it from happening. How many times had this happened before? How many times had they both died and the other one… tried to save them.
Suddenly, it hit David, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding until it was coming out in a sharp gasp. He felt dizzy, nauseous, and shaky, but none of that mattered. He had to save Hannah. He could still do that, couldn’t he? Dean had done it before. For a split second David thought about calling Cadence, but he wasn’t sure that she even had the juice for this. Cas hadn’t always. And if she didn’t, that was time wasted while he could be saving Hannah’s life. It wasn’t a route that either Hannah or Dean would like, but it was a route that David knew for a fact would produce the desired results, regardless of the cost. Without hesitation, David carefully lowered Hannah back down to the floor before he scrambled to his feet and whipping out his cell phone to text Finley ‘911: Apartment. Now.’ as he walked right out the door to wait for him outside, face in his hands on the steps. This was the only way.
Finley’s night had been, in a word, magnificent. Plenty of fools looking to make a deal, and with the right pomp and circumstance, Finley could get them to agree to anything he wanted. His face, of course, didn’t hurt his case when it came to little wannabe witches without a thimbleful of potential amongst the entire ‘coven’. Their wants had been so basic. A waste of a soul, really, to give them what they wanted, but he’d be a bad businessman if he turned down a sucker deal. It was an investment, really, in hopes that ten years down the road when he came to collect on the contract, he’d be the one sitting on the throne of Hell reaping the benefits. It was a gamble he was more than willing to take, and a deal he felt more than okay with. As a result, by the time he got David’s text, he was in an excellent mood.
The text itself didn’t ruin that. Easy enough to assume that David was simply being dramatic. He did that, didn’t he? There was no denying that David Ryan could be a bit of a drama queen. Still, Finley was in a good enough mood that, in spite of the fact that it was a demand and not a request, he shrugged the jacket of his suit back on, straightened his tie, and teleported. He appeared at the bottom of the stairs up to David’s apartment, drawling out, “You could have said ‘please’, you know” in Crowley’s accent.
That was before he’d seen David’s face. Finley didn’t think there was any denying that he’d grown… fond… of David. Not nearly the level that Crowley had become of Dean, of course, before Dean turned around and stabbed him in the back (Crowley likely remembered that differently than Dean). Still, something about David’s posture put him on edge, and he moved forward to kneel on the step in front of David, a hand raising to rest on his knee. “David. What’s happened?” Mouse wasn’t there, but Finley thought nothing of it. David hadn’t let his sister in on how much time he’d been spending with Finley, as far as he was aware. Something was off, though, something significant.
David heard his remark about saying please, but he didn’t really hear him until Finley was kneeling in front of him, asking him what had happened. The hand on his knee was what partially woke him up from his brief daze, raising his head from his hands and letting them slide from his face to fall into his lap. He looked at Finley for a second or two with eyes somewhat glazed over, like he wasn’t sure that the other man was real. Everything felt backwards to him, upside down, his world was not as he’d known it because Hannah was no longer in it. David couldn’t bear it, and he knew he looked wrecked, knew showing this kind of weakness to Finley probably wasn’t a good idea, but David was just like Dean. He had a hard time keeping his emotions behind a mask, especially when it came to family. That was always their biggest weakness, so really, Finley was probably already well aware of that. He knew him, after all.
He blinked, only realizing after the fact that he hadn’t actually answered Finley’s question, he’d just been staring at him. David was obviously shaken, but somehow, he felt a little better now that the other man was here. He trusted Finley, more than he probably should, but Finley was always more or less his first instinct to run to when calling for help, and Finley always came. That meant his trust couldn’t be that misplaced. They’d also spent enough time together by now that the gesture with the hand on his knee honestly shocked David into a genuine answer, as emotionally raw as he currently felt, and he met Finley’s gaze with a new kind of determination.
“... She’s gone.” He sounded like he was still a little in disbelief, unable to wrap his mind around how Hannah could just not exist anymore. It didn’t feel right. She was supposed to be here. He had to fix it, because he needed her. David swallowed hard and rubbed at the back of his head, trying to make sense of things enough that he could form a complete sentence but he just kept thinking about Hannah lying on the floor of his apartment. Finley was here now, and he could help. He could make this right. Couldn’t he? David couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice when he asked him out loud. “You have to fix it. You can fix it, right? You can bring her back?”
Under other circumstances, Finley would have teased David about being vague. ‘She’ is the cat’s mother, and all that--a phrase that likely would have gone even further to persuade David that Finley was, in fact, a hundred years old, give or take. There were many things those two words could have meant, a thousand variations on emphasis, on tone, that might have changed the entire short sentence to something vastly different. Finley didn’t tease. Knowing David as he did, and by the look on his face, the sound of his voice, and the question he followed with, he knew beyond a doubt what David meant exactly, who ‘she’ was and that gone was just a prettier word to cover up the truth that he blatantly wasn’t coping with. He didn’t need to know the details of how to know that ‘she's gone’ truly meant ‘Hannah's dead’.
It was a victory, of sorts, that David had called him, instead of that halfwit Barbie that Castiel had gotten saddled with. Not that Finley didn’t know himself to be the far superior choice, in comparison. It was no secret, though, that Finley didn’t particularly care for Hannah, nor she for him; not that it necessarily mattered, for the sake of business, but it logically ought to be tempting to say no, to tell David that, for one reason or another, bringing Hannah back was one thing he couldn’t do. David might be angry, for a while, but he'd likely believe him in the end, and Hannah gone would be one less barrier between Finley and David’s trust.
On the other hand, having David beholden to him was… tempting. If Finley was the one who gave his sister back, wouldn’t he be more predisposed to look on the demon as a friend, an ally? And being the one holding the lease on his soul… distraught as he was, David would agree to anything. Anything at all. That was a thought at least as appealing as having Hannah permanently out of the way.
People had looked at, spoken to, Finley with that sort of hope, before. It ought to have been nothing new. Nothing that would matter to him. He was a demon, after all, what did he care about a man's feelings? Still… the space between his eyebrows furrowed, corners of his lips turned downward as he pushed himself upright again, holding his hand out to David. “Show me.” It wasn’t going to hurt any of them to take the time for Finley to look.
The last time David remembered being this close to Finley was in the Impala when they'd accidentally ended up on top of each other while engaged in a somewhat embarrassing wrestling match over his iPod. Even then, when they'd been close enough that he could make out every line of Finley's face in the darkness, David was pretty sure he'd never seen that look on Finley's face before. The crease of his eyebrows, that hint of a frown. If David didn't know any better he'd say that Finley actually looked concerned, and that woke David up more than anything to what was happening. Hannah dying had actually happened, it wasn't a figment of his imagination like how it still sounded to him even when David had said it out loud. This was real.
David knew that he was getting himself in too deep by asking Finley to help him. He knew it would mean a deal, and it wasn’t a road that Dean hadn’t already been down before. Not with Crowley, but it didn’t matter who held the contract on his soul, did it? In the end, he would still go to hell. Maybe in ten years, maybe only in one year like the deal they’d given Dean. David wasn’t sure he’d care either way. If it was to save Hannah, there was literally nothing he wouldn’t do, including sell his soul at any price. It was the most obvious and damning weakness about him because it was the same one Dean had. Anyone who met David would know that about him, friend or foe, but David didn’t really think of Finley as an enemy, despite Hannah’s objections. He didn’t really think of him as a friend either, at least not fully, there was still a part of him wary to trust him that much, and another part of him that strangely wanted to. It was complicated.
He didn’t want to see Hannah again. Not like that, as she was right now. He wanted to see her alive, and talking, not dead and silent on the floor. David didn’t hesitate before taking Finley’s hand, weirdly it felt like some kind of knee jerk reaction now whenever the demon offered it, though he got to his feet shakily, and he was maybe gripping Finley’s offered hand harder than he meant to. He felt sick, the thought of having to look at Hannah like that again making his brain reluctant to tell his corresponding limbs to move in the direction of the front door, the giant mess that was now his apartment in the wake of the struggle, and the scene of the murder. David hesitated, before finally nodding up the stairs to the apartment and mumbled. “... She’s in there.”
Finley waited a moment for David to lead the way, and then nodded to him. It seemed he was being turned loose on his own, then. It wasn’t as though he planned to do anything untoward in David’s apartment, but it was… odd, to say the least, to be given that much of an open door. He let go of David’s hand once the younger man seemed steadier on his feet, and then brushed past him and up the stairs. No telling what he’d find. Perhaps he should have pressed David a bit more closely for a clue as to what he was walking into, but there was very little that turned Finley’s stomach, anymore. Not since he’d become a demon, and he hadn’t been exactly squeamish before that, either. Whatever was waiting inside David’s apartment, Finley could handle it.
Actually, it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. Messy, of course. No denying that some sort of scuffle had taken place there, and if he hadn’t been able to recognize the lingering hints of sulfur in the air from demon teleportation, he’d have been a very poor demon indeed. Easy enough to piece together, knowing that David and Hannah had been having some demon problems (not involving him, thank you very much), lately. The ones that had sent them the disturbing gifts, he imagined, had stepped their scheme up a bit, whatever it might have been. Frankly, Finley wasn’t impressed. No style to it, in the least, making an enormous mess and then leaving. At least if you were going to do something stupid, you ought to make a show out of it. A real presentation, one that would get your point across. Demons, he thought with a sigh and a shake of his head. Very rarely did they actually understand the benefit of delicacy.
It was impossible to miss Hannah’s body, of course. Had it not been for the angle of her neck, she might have just been taking a very awkwardly placed nap. She wasn’t beginning to stiffen, yet; obviously a fresh kill. David must have called him immediately, he thought, oddly pleased that he hadn’t even dallied around trying to think of his other options before calling Finley. He crouched by her body, straightened the angle of her neck to something a bit more natural. No blood. An area on her cheek that he thought might have bruised, had she been alive long enough after it for blood to begin to pool there under the skin. He’d have to check whether David wanted that healed, as well, or perhaps he’d throw it in as a freebie. “You won’t be happy about this,” he told the body on the floor, quietly, not bothering with Crowley’s accent since there wasn’t anyone there to hear it, anyway. Had she been alive, he imagined Hannah would have been glaring at him… and likely telling him to leave her brother alone. “He called me, you realize. I can’t be blamed, though I’m sure you’ll disagree.” She usually did.
Finley didn’t bother going back out through the door, or down the stairs. He appeared precisely where he had the first time, mind made up. As though it hadn’t been from the moment that David asked. “I can’t do this for free, you realize. Sets a bad precedent.” That, and he literally couldn’t. As King of Hell, he could hand out freebies. As the King of the Crossroads… there had to be a contract, and there had to be a payment.
David had spent that brief time while Finley was inside just trying to keep himself together. Standing, having to keep himself upright and collected, was painful, but he managed it. He’d felt on the verge of a panic attack before Finley had gotten there, but now that he was here, David felt a little less in pieces. Maybe he shouldn’t be counting on it, but he didn’t think there was any question that Finley would help him. Sam had tried to make deals with demons to get Dean out of hell and was refused, but this was a completely different situation, wasn’t it? He and Hannah didn’t exactly have the reputations built up that the Winchesters had, though you could argue they still had their reputations, as the reincarnates. But Finley didn’t have any reason to refuse him, did he? David was willing to do anything, including and beyond selling away his soul.
He barely blinked when Finley reappeared in front of him, so used to that by now that it no longer made him jump the way it had in the past. Of course, Finley wasn’t appearing behind him when David wasn’t expecting it while he was hiding behind the pillar of a restaurant. Still, David wasn’t sure Finley could take him by surprise right now even if he tried. He felt utterly drained and numb, but at the prospect of getting his sister back, he was feeling a little less broken. A little more determined, and it was probably obvious in the stubborn look he gave Finley that he wasn’t going to back down from this, no matter what. He and Dean had that particular trait in common.
“I’m not asking you to do it for free.” David’s voice was surprisingly calm, considering they were talking about selling away his own soul. He was just focusing on getting Hannah back, and not letting himself think about the rest. “My soul for her life, right? That’s how it works? So take it. Take it, I don’t care. But she can’t know about this.” His expression softened, and David looked a little more pleading. “Please. We have to keep this between us.”
He’d be wanting to keep the bruise, then. Finley nodded, not as much agreeing as simply showing that he’d heard David, and he understood that he was well aware of the standard sort of deal for this sort of thing. The problem was… Finley wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted that kind of deal. Sending David’s soul to Hell, while the standard currency, wouldn’t benefit Finley, would it? He might be willing to take that gamble with someone else, to risk Lucifer, or even Abaddon, getting their bloody hands on some preteen girl who was willing to sign herself over for clear skin, but David, David was a special case. Having David’s soul would be substantially more significant than having just anybody else’s, and Finley didn’t quite like the idea of it.
“I’d prefer to propose a different trade,” he told him, tapping a finger on his mouth as he thought. What, exactly, would he like to have from David, that David could actually give him?
The answer was so simple, he couldn’t believe it had taken him even a second to think of it. “I don’t want your soul.” If he took that sort of deal, someone or something would swoop along and bring him back, anyhow. It was how it always worked with the Winchesters, wasn’t it? He didn’t doubt that the same would be true for David. Possibly even for Hannah, if Finley hadn’t been so quick on his feet, and so near the top of David’s speed dial. “What I want… what I want is the throne of Hell. I want to be king again.” He’d do a damn sight better than whoever was currently in residence. He only knew someone was in residence to begin with because he’d found his way somehow barred. Finley, or more accurately Crowley, wasn’t welcome.
“Here’s what I propose. I’ll take a bit of a loan on your soul. As collateral.” That was only fair, Finley thought. “If, by the end of ten years, I’ve claimed the throne of Hell with your assistance, you get it back, shiny and new as it ever was. If not…” He shrugged. “I suppose your soul would be better than nothing at all to show for it, wouldn’t it?” It was fair, he thought, and what he’d really, truly wanted out of his association with the Ryans all along.
It was hard to put into words, the kind of relief that washed over David the instant Finley gave him his alternative proposal. It wasn’t because he thought he was getting off easy, though he was surprised Finley had proposed something long term that didn’t directly involve his soul except as collateral, it was because Finley had accepted a deal in the first place. If he hadn’t, David wasn’t sure what he would have done, but he didn’t see any way around this. This was the only way he knew for sure that he could get Hannah back, regardless of what happened to him, so he would take it. He knew he was being selfish, he knew Hannah would never want him to do this anymore than Sam had wanted Dean to do this for him, but that didn’t matter. He’d made up his mind.
David also wasn’t stupid enough to let onto Finley that any part of him thought he was getting off easy. Finley could change his mind entirely, or just tweak the terms of the deal itself. Either way, David wasn’t going to be that much of an idiot. He was lucky Finley was willing to make a deal at all, and just because he had ten years to make good on his end didn’t mean it would be easy achieving that specific outcome. A lot could happen in ten years. He could die before then. What would happen to his soul if that happened? But David couldn’t worry about that right now, and even though this meant he would be working with Finley with no way out of it, the idea of working with him indefinitely didn’t worry him as much as it probably should. This wasn’t like when Dean and Sam found out they’d been working for Crowley for months without knowing, there was no crazy grandfather back from the dead. David was going into this with eyes wide open.
“Sounds fair.” David nodded slowly, taking it all in before verbally agreeing to it. Finley on the throne of hell wasn’t a thought that bothered him, as abstract an idea as that seemed to the younger man in the moment. It was really a game of lesser evils, he and Dean both preferred Crowley on the throne than Lucifer or Abaddon, though it was also true that Dean was a bit biased towards Crowley in general, as David was to Finley. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
It wasn’t as though Finley had expected David to disagree with the terms, whether he liked the idea of Finley on the throne or not. If those were the terms set out to have his sister returned to him, he’d had no doubt that David would take them. He didn’t believe it would be an easy task, exactly—it would require, of course, removing whoever was on the throne currently. He knew the answer wasn’t Abaddon, as she’d not have been able to keep herself from lording it over him. In fact, Finley suspected it was likely Lucifer, himself, and he wouldn’t be handing it over easily. Circumstances weren’t the same as they’d been when Lucifer had first been wrested from his position, and Finley doubted it would be quite as simple to shove him in a cage.
Still, David had agreed, and so Finley pulled out his phone, and pulled up the app he’d persuaded a programmer he did business with at times to make him as a favor. All she’d wanted in exchange was for a particularly annoying ex-girlfriend to leave her alone, and hadn’t cared about the details. Barely even decent recompense for how much time and effort she’d saved him, over the years. Crowley had been resistant, at first, to the idea of electronic contracts, even ones immediately backed up to the cloud so that they’d never get lost or misplaced, but Finley had persuaded him in time. There was nothing wrong with bringing this crossroads business to the modern age. He muttered to himself as he pulled up one of his contract templates. Bringing back a loved one wasn’t exactly an unusual reason to make a deal; all he really needed to do was fill in a few blanks.
“The deceased… Hannah Ryan…” Finley frowned at the screen in concentration as he wrote. “Provisions to hide evidence of the deal… holder of the contract agrees not to mention its existence to the deceased…” He put in his own terms, and then hit the button to generate the contract. He gave it a quick read over, himself, and then handed it over to David. “You realize… Sam might not come back with her. If he’s already moved on to a new reincarnate, it’s possible she’ll return alone.” That was included in the text as well, that Finley took no liability for anything missing when the deceased returned to life. “If this all seems to be in order, hit ‘accept’ at the bottom and then sign your name on the following screen with your finger.”
David hadn’t expected Finley to whip out his phone and start drawing up a contract on it, but hey, it was 2015. Everything was an app now. He wasn’t really sure what he’d actually been expecting, considering he’d never made a deal with a demon before, and Dean was no help. He wanted to save Sam as much as David wanted to save Hannah, but for Dean, it wasn’t just him making the suicidal decision to make a deal with Crowley, it was David too, so there were some mixed feelings. The older Winchester was the biggest hypocrite on earth, and they both knew it. In the end it wouldn’t have changed anything even if Dean didn’t want them to make the deal, David had already made up his mind. Dean at least knew better than to try and argue with him.
It hadn’t occurred to David that Hannah might come back without Sam, and he immediately felt a pang of sincere panic and desperation that was all Dean and not his. David felt sorry for him. That’s exactly how he would feel if getting Hannah back wasn’t possible, how he had felt ten minutes ago, and he wished he could help Dean too but he had no control over reincarnation. Maybe they would get lucky, and Hannah won’t have been dead long enough for any kind of transfer to happen. He had gotten Finley here quickly, so there was always a chance. He hoped that was the case, for Dean’s sake. David knew it wouldn’t be the same without Sam around, but he couldn’t let himself care about that right now. Getting Hannah back was more important.
“... Yeah. I know.” David took the phone from him and looked over what Finley had written, thinking to himself that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing if Hannah came back without Sam. At least then she might not be in danger anymore. He could keep her safe by keeping all of the baggage that came with Dean as far away from her as possible. “But maybe that’s for the best. Either way, I’m doing this for her, not Sam.” Sorry, Dean. But they both knew that David’s first priority was always going to be her, just like Sam was always going to be Dean’s. It was fitting, in that way. After another couple seconds David did as instructed, hit ‘accept’ and signed with his finger before handing the phone off back to Finley. “Is that it?”
“Not quite.” Finley wasn’t certain if it was wishful thinking, or if David was genuinely distraught enough to forget exactly how it was that you sealed a deal with a crossroads demon. Even had it not been entirely necessary, Finley would have insisted.
Not because he wanted to kiss David, of course. Regardless of what Juno might have had to say about the matter, if she’d been there to provide commentary.
He shook his head at David, ‘tsk’ing under his breath. “You know how we seal the deal, darling.” Finley took the phone back, but kept it in the palm of his hand rather than tucking it away in his pocket. No need to keep it out, but it did seem a waste of time when he’d be jetting out after the contract had taken, as he imagined David wouldn’t care to try to explain Finley’s presence to Hannah when he’d certainly not been there before she’d… passed out, he imagined that David would tell her, from the blow to the head.
Raising the other hand, he crooked a finger at David to beckon him closer. “No need to play hard to get, with me.”
David hadn’t necessarily forgotten that it was typically part of making a deal with a crossroads demon to lock lips, he knew it was, but in the moment he hadn’t been thinking about it. But he realized, as soon as Finley shook his head, that they weren’t done yet. There was still one more thing they had to do to seal the deal, and it was the knowledge of that one thing that made David’s heart drop into his stomach. The reality of having to kiss Finley might not have even registered for David five minutes ago when he was still half in a daze, but now that Hannah was as good as saved since he’d signed the contract, David had allowed himself to start to relax. That is until Finley was looking at him and crooking his finger like that.
He took a hesitant step down to join Finley on the same level, so that they were (almost) eye-to-eye. Finley was a little taller than him. David swallowed, feeling anxious in a way that he’d never really felt when he was about to kiss someone. No one could blame him for being on edge, considering today’s events, but it wasn’t just that. It was no secret that he was drawn to Finley, though he for the most part refused to think about it too hard. If he didn’t think about it, it wasn’t a big deal, but kissing Finley? That wasn’t something he was going to be able to take back any more than he’d ever be able to take back this deal, and that made him nervous. Everything about this situation did, but kissing Finley was currently at the top of the list.
Trying to hide how fidgety he suddenly was, and probably failing, David looked up at Finley with lips parted, seeming to get momentarily hung up on what he was going to say in response. Normally he’d have some smart alec quip to say back to him, but not this time, instead asking weakly. “... Can’t we just shake on it?”
Finley snorted. Shake on it? Really? It was a business deal, of course, but when had Dean ever seen a demon seal a deal on a handshake? “Not how it works, I’m afraid.” He didn’t sound any sort of afraid, and certainly not any sort of sorry about it. If David wanted his sister back badly enough, he’d seal the deal with a kiss. Really, it was ridiculous to get squeamish about it, now, to hesitate more about kissing another man than offering your services in putting that man on the throne of Hell. Of course, it could be more along the lines of David wanting it a bit too much, which was the reality that Finley preferred to believe.
“Sooner begun, sooner done.” Finley stepped closer, reached out and pressed a hand to the back of David’s head to hold him steady. There’d be no getting out of the kiss, or trying to skive off early with something halfhearted. If Finley was going to kiss David Ryan, it was going to be a hell of a kiss. Wouldn’t do to leave him a chance to come back later and claim that Finley’s kisses were in any way subpar, the next time they clashed and David felt the need to go for a low blow.
He pressed their lips together, firm but dry to start, but nothing chaste about it in the least. His mouth moved against David’s, parting slightly, tongue tracing the younger man’s lower lip, and… well, then. That was… interesting, wasn’t it? Eyes drifting closed, he pressed into the kiss a bit more, hand still firmly planted on the back of David’s head.
Slowly, he raised the phone in his hand, finger going to activate the camera by muscle memory alone. He didn’t know quite why he did it. He wasn’t exactly thinking about it at the moment, was he? Perhaps it was for Juno, to amuse her as she seemed far more invested in himself and David than Finley was. Perhaps just to taunt David with, later; Finley could almost imagine his face already. He didn’t exactly take the time to measure his motivations before he snapped the picture, silent, nothing to give the action away.
Releasing David’s head, Finley stepped back and smiled. “Deal’s done. Best get in there before sis wakes up, hadn’t you? Wouldn’t want her to suspect anything…”
There was a moment, right before Finley leaned in, when David felt a sliver of panic. Not because the idea of kissing a man was more difficult to stomach than signing yourself up for a hostile takeover, but because it was Finley, and David was still so deep in his own denial that even now he had a hard time admitting to himself that this was something he’d thought about before. His insides were a squirming mess and he was conflicted because of Hannah, but he was doing this for Hannah, so in the end it didn’t matter that he did or didn’t want it, right? It wasn’t a big deal. All he had to do was get it over with, kiss Finley, and then he’d have Hannah back. He could do this. Easy as… No, pretty sure David was never using that line again.
With Finley’s hand on the back of his head, David swallowed, feeling trapped but he didn’t try to get out of it. He took in a sharp breath right before their lips connected, eyes opening wider as he felt and returned the firm press of Finley’s lips on his, the slight parting of mouths and the surprising sensation of Finley’s tongue sliding over David’s lower lip making his eyes close over fully and release the breath he’d been holding. If he’d been more aware of himself, he might have done something normal with his hands, but this was not normal and he was not aware of himself, so David stood there frozen, except for the way his mouth moved against Finley’s while his head was held captive, returning the increase in pressure in those final moments of the kiss.
David opened his eyes slowly when he felt Finley release his head and step back, the moment sufficiently broken, but his gaze on the demon in front of him was still a little unfocused as he mentally tried to regain some composure. It was only when Finley mentioned his sister waking up that David’s focus and priorities instantly re-shifted, and he remembered why he’d done this, and the implication that Hannah could already be waking up caused a rush of hope to surge through him. “... Thank you,” David uttered sincerely, his voice cracking a little but he didn’t care in the moment, he was already turning from Finley and racing back up the stairs to get to Hannah, to be there when she woke up. He only turned back once before he went in the door, but where Finley had previously been standing there was no one now, so he went inside and immediately over to Hannah to kneel beside her, supporting the back of her head with his hand so she had something softer to wake up to then a cold, hard floor. “Hannah? Hey...”
Hannah wasn’t sure what the last thing she remembered was. She’d been fighting with Tali, she knew that, and then--and then she was pushing up onto her elbows with an audible gasp like she’d been connected to a livewire and was taking her first breath of her life. After what felt like ages but probably was only about two seconds, a wave of pain washed over her. Her neck was sore, like it was stiff, but her cheek. Her cheek hurt the most, and when she put her hand to it gingerly, a firey pain radiated through the rest of her head. Okay, there was a bruise there, absolutely.
Wide eyes finally found David’s, and it was incredibly clear that Hannah was confused--and she hated being confused. She and Sam were used to being the ones doing research, and having the answers when answers could be found. Laying on her brother’s floor with no idea how long she’d been there, or what had happened… “David?” And then, dawning realization, as she took in the torn apart apartment. Demons. They had absolutely been fighting against--shit.
“Shit. Tali?” She started to attempt to scramble to her feet, but immediately sunk back down to the floor with a wave of dizziness. Maybe she had a concussion. Had she been knocked out? David didn’t seem ready to run, or too panicked about moving, and when she looked around again it was pretty clear that they were alone. “....Where’d they go?” A pause, and then more importantly… “Why aren’t we dead?”
David was so relieved when Hannah actually opened her eyes that he visibly exhaled, but that would be normal. Even if she really had just been unconscious, it would be believable that he would be worried about her, and relieved when she finally came to. She came to a little forcibly, and David tried to slow her movements down as she pushed herself up on her elbows to keep her from hurting herself. She’d already been hurt enough. David’s mouth set in a firm, concerned line as he tried not to fixate on the bruise on her cheek, fresh anger building up in him at Tali. That bitch was going to pay for what she did, regardless of the fact that it hadn’t been permanent. Accident or on purpose, he didn’t care. First chance he got, she was going down.
“Hey, steady… careful,” David urged her softly, keeping a hand on her back to steady her if she was still too out of it to remember things like balance and keeping herself upright when she sank back down again, his other hand holding onto her arm for added support. Her question made him freeze temporarily, almost wincing at the irony of it and David realized he hadn't bothered to come up with a story. Understandably he'd been a little too preoccupied to come up with anything earlier, but if he wanted Hannah to stay in the dark about what he'd done to get her back, he had to come up with something convincing. Something she would believe.
“Finley showed up and got rid of them,” David lied, unwilling to acknowledge the familiarity in their situation and how he was explaining it away. It was believable, but also, Finley was the first thing that popped into his head, and not for the reasons one might expect. David hadn't been able to come up with anything else on the spot. He made a mental note to tell Finley later that he'd had to tell Hannah he'd been there, so they could keep their story straight. “Tali hit you, you were knocked out. He showed up right before that asshole could do anything to me and they both disappeared. Finley's out looking for them.”
After a short pause, David abruptly drew Hannah closer to pull her into a tight hug, trying to keep the panic out of his voice as he hugged her fiercely. “So glad you're okay. I was worried there for a minute, pipsqueak.”
Luckily for David, Hannah was still too preoccupied with her own confusion to catch on to the familiarity of the situation that would have clued her in to the fact that the scenario David was painting for her was a farce. In a way it wasn’t a total lie--Finley did, in a way, show up to save the day--but she was content in the moment to take it at face value. They’d been in trouble with demons, and like with their first encounter with Finley, he’d shown up to save them in the nick of time. Seemed like typical Winchester luck, so of course it would be Ryan luck.
“Finley saved us? Again?” There was a hint of gratitude in her voice, and Hannah raised her hand to scratch at the back of her head until she winced at that motion. Apparently wrestling with a demon wasn’t the best idea and left you feeling like you were hit by a truck. It hadn’t been her finest moment, taking on Tali head-on like that, but desperate times. She was scared for her brother. A few sore muscles and bruises seemed worth it since he was clearly still alive. “I might have to send him a fruit basket. And a thank you. God that’s weird.”
But the news that Tali had knocked her out was a different story. A darkness clouded her features for a moment, and she briefly considered getting up to go search for Tali herself. She was tired of her demon stalker, and she was done waiting for her to show up to react. David’s hug surprised her, jerking her out of her thoughts and softening her resolve until she was hugging him back just as tightly. She may have been knocked out by Tali, but David had had a knife on him, and had been pinned to a wall by a demon they didn’t even know.
“Hey, it’s cool.” She whispered, squeezing him. He seemed really rattled. “It’s just a little bruise to my cheek. And ego, honestly. But it’s not like I’m dead.” Still, she didn’t let him go, instead clinging a little tighter. That had been a close call, for both of them, and it was leaving her and Sam feeling more vulnerable than they were comfortable with.
David felt terrible for lying to her, but he didn’t see any other choice. At least she seemed to believe his story, and why wouldn’t she? He was her brother. Why would he lie to her? The guilt was killing him, but it was worth it, had to be worth it, to save her. He didn’t regret asking Finley for help, no matter what it had cost him personally, but he didn’t like lying to Hannah. He’d never liked lying to her, but it wasn’t the first time, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Sometimes you had to lie to the ones you loved to protect them, and he needed to protect Hannah from this. He didn’t want her to live with the guilt of what he’d done to save her. But she was his baby sister, he needed to protect her from that. And yes, David knew he was being a huge hypocrite.
At least she already kind of knew that he and Finley had been hanging out more than David sometimes readily admitted. She still didn’t know the full extent to which David ended up in Finley’s company one-on-one, but she knew enough that Finley randomly showing up at David’s apartment just in time wasn’t the most unbelievable thing that could ever happen. Besides, it wasn’t a lie that Finley had saved them. David may have been the one to get him here, but if it hadn’t been for Finley, Hannah would still be dead. By all accounts, Finley had saved them, so David didn’t feel like he had to sell it too hard. The less he had to keep actively lying to Hannah the better. “Not sure demons like fruit baskets. Unless it’s forbidden fruit, I guess.”
David laughed, not exactly a full laugh, more like a puff of air because that’s as much as his body could manage at the moment. He felt like he was still a little in shock, and maybe he was, but after what they’d just been through that was pretty understandable. He winced a little at her last remark, but she couldn’t know how close of a call it actually had been. It only made him hug her back even tighter. “... Yeah. Thank god for that.” Well. Thank someone for that.